When a smallpox outbreak once again gripped Boston in 1721, Mather enlisted Zabdiel Boylston, one of the few physicians of the time willing to gamble on Onesimus’ procedure. Mather, who once railed ...

Who was the man, really? Nearly everything concrete we know about Onesimus comes from Cotton Mather’s diary, with a few potential glimpses in later church and civic records.

Yet Onesimus' role in Boston's first inoculations was for years less well-known than the man who owned him, the influential preacher Cotton Mather, famous for his role in the Salem witch trials.

As health-care workers began getting the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine Monday, a look back at the innovative inoculation technique an enslaved African taught Puritan minister Cotton Mather ...

Less than 25% of Black Americans are vaccinated. The story of Onesimus, an enslaved man in the 1700s, could persuade more of them to get the COVID shot.

Less than 25% of Black Americans are vaccinated. The story of Onesimus, an enslaved man in the 1700s, could persuade more of them to get the COVID shot.

After Mather learned Onesimus had been inoculated, he sought further evidence, talking to others in Boston’s enslaved community.

Cotton Mather’s response to an outbreak in his community was inspired by Onesimus’s life story. Perhaps no American community is as polemic as the Puritans. One of its biggest personalities ...