On November 15, 1918, in the midst of the influenza epidemic, C. E. Stanford, a resident of Stockton, California, openly defied the city’s mask ordinance saying, “I have never worn an influenza mask and never will. I am a healthy man now and know full well if I put one of those things on, I will get sick. I would rather stay in jail the rest of my life than wear one.”[1]
An extended account of Stanford’s defiance provides insights into the tensions between enforcing, contesting, and evading mask ordinances. After proclaiming “that [he] had never worn a mask, was not wearing one, and would never wear one,” Stanford was “gathered in by the alert police force and forthwith confined in the county jail,” where he spent the night. The next morning, Stanford’s fifteen-year-old son came to the jail “and pleaded that his father be released, saying that he had bought masks for his father at different times but he refused to wear them.” Told that $25 bail would bring his release, “Stanford flatly refused…and the boy left the jail crying.” Later that day, however, Stanford “changed his mind.” Appearing before Justice Parker, “incidentally wearing a mask of generous proportions,” he declared his “intention of following out the letter of the law,” at which point he was released, “no formal charge having been made against him.”[2]
Stanford’s bold statement seems especially evocative in summer 2020, as the COVID-19 epidemic has forced the United States and the world to think about masks in three crucial ways: as a public health recommendation, an individual choice, and, increasingly, a legal requirement. The current situation has brought new attention to the in 1918-1919, particularly the most familiar example, San Francisco, which has been examined in historical accounts, document collections, and popular articles. This essay explores the example set by the city of Stockton, which makes for a powerful case study because the city council, the mayor, and the city health officer implemented the mask ordinance three times across the influenza epidemic from late October 1918 to early February 1919.