About this episode

Nicholas Freudenberg discusses his book on public health activism in New York City from the 1960s to the present, highlighting the impact of Covid-19.

Today I'm speaking with Nicholas Freudenberg, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Health at the CUNY School of Public Health. We are discussing his book, Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since the 1960s (Columbia University Press, 2026). In March 2020, during one of the first major US outbreaks of Covid, New York became an epicenter of the spread. New York's connective tissue, like the walkable city streets, subways, and taxi cabs, became pathways of transmission. In places where ideas and cultures can spread, diseases can, too. As the hospitals began to fill, essential workers from doctors and nurses to ambulance drivers and social workers stepped up to help heal the city in a time of crisis. For a brief moment, health workers became highly visible in our public consciousness. For many, the pandemic came as a shock. It had been more than 100 years since the last pandemic of comparable magnitude hit the five boroughs. We soon discovered that there already existed a network of public health workers and activists waiting to spring into action to blunt the virus's spread. Many wished that this network had been more robust, better developed, and…

People in this episode

Guest: Nicholas Freudenberg

Topics covered

• public health
• activism
• social justice
• Covid-19
• New York City
• healthcare workers

Keywords

• public health
• activism
• social justice
• New York
• Covid-19
• healthcare
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CUNY School of Public Health, Columbia University Press

Books & works: Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since The 1960s

Places: New York

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