How have Black essential workers weathered the pandemic? As part of Elemental’s new series “Six Months In,” this oral history of Black doctors, nurses, postal workers, and others working in “essential” professions tells stories from the frontlines in their own voices.

“The virus has become political, social unrest is definitely palpable,” says Love Anani, a medical director of an emergency department in Tennessee.

“I think a lot of physicians of color have developed an amazing external shield, an external way to hide their feelings sometimes. I don’t think we developed it during medical school — I think we probably mostly developed it during life.”

An Oral History of the Pandemic Told by Black Essential Workers