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A Brief History Of Public Health In Alexandria And Alexandria's Health Department, Krystyn R. Moon

History and American Studies

One of the central tenets of public health is the belief that the practice of medicine serves the broader community; however, the specific meaning of the phrase “public health” is a historically contingent one. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, the public included only white, bourgeois men who met in coffee houses and other such establishments to discuss politics, business ventures, and popular culture. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the “public” included white working class men, the poor, women, and people of color. Eventually, politicians and medical doctors recognized that children should be included as part …