The Red Death symbolizes the inevitability of death. Although there is no specific disease using the exact symptoms described in the story, critics believe the disease's description has aspects of tuberculosis, an illness which killed a lot of all-around Poe. It also brings forth memories in the Black Death which depopulated high of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dr. Cole will be the President of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is President emerita of Spelman College and Professor Emerita of Anthropology, Women's Studies, and African American Studies at Emory University. A nationally known African American feminist-intellectual, she may be the author of several books, including Conversations: Straight Talk with America's Sister President.