📅 26 June 1721
Historical accounts date Boylston’s first group to 26 June: his son Thomas and the enslaved Jack and Jackey were inoculated against smallpox.
📅 26 June 1721
Jack and his young son Jackey were enslaved by Boylston; their participation in this experiment must not be portrayed as freely chosen.
📅 26 June 1721
Onesimus, enslaved by Cotton Mather, had earlier described an African inoculation method that shaped advocacy during the epidemic.
📅 26 June 1721
Boylston treated his own son and two people he enslaved, while Asian, African and Ottoman variolation practices long predated Boston’s experiment.
