From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Influenza/Pneumonia 1918-1919 Pandemic ; Kentucky, African Americans
During the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic, there was a belief among some health professionals in the United States that the death rate among African Americans was much less than the death rate among whites. There was also blame for the epidemic placed on African Americans and immigrants. Yet also, there were researchers who claimed the number of deaths among African Americans and other groups were underreported and undercounted.[Sources: "State Health Board Makes Influenza Report," The Bourbon News, 12/31/1918, p. 3; "The Defective Negro," pp. 182-183 in The American Negro; as a dependent, defective, and delinquent, by C. H. McCord; W. W. Oliver, "Spanish Influenza," Scientific American, vol. 199, no. 18, pp. 356 & 367, 11/2/1918; S. J. Holmes, "Differential Mortality in the American Negro (Concluded)," Human Biology, vol. 3, no. 2, (May 1931), pp. 203-244; and Epidemic and Opportunity: American Perceptions of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic, by J. Chilcote (dissertation) online at UKnowledge].
In 1918, there were an estimated 20 million deaths worldwide due to influenza with 477,467 of those deaths in the United States attributed to all forms of influenza and pneumonia. From Kentucky, 11,852 deaths were reported, and of that total, 1,713 were reported to be the deaths of Coloreds [African Americans].
The two illnesses, influenza and pneumonia, were reported together in the mortality statistics for the U.S. because of the number of influenza deaths that were due to pneumonia and the number of deaths attributed to pneumonia that were thought to be knowingly or unknowingly also caused by influenza. In the United States, the deaths occurred in two phases in 1918. In Kentucky there were 2,391 reported deaths during the months of January through August, and in the last four months of 1918 during the period referred to as the "Influenza Pandemic," there were 9,461 reported deaths.
By the end of 1919, the number of reported deaths in Kentucky due to influenza/pneumonia had decreased to 6,861. The number of deaths continued to decline the following year, but there were and still are influenza and pneumonia deaths in Kentucky. See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for more historical and current information on influenza, flu, and pneumonia in the United States.
[Source: See pp 27-28 in the 19th Annual Report, Mortality Statistics for 1918, published by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, available online .pdf at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Vital Statistics of the United States: 1890-1938].
The number of deaths and the rate of deaths were different for every state. To read more about the impact of death among the races, see "There wasn't a lot of comforts in those days:" African Americans, public health, and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic," by V. N. Gamble in Public Health Reports, 2010, vol. 125 (Supplement 3), pp. 114-122 [available online]; The Flu Epidemic of 1918: Americas Experience in the Global Health Crisis, by S. Opdycke; War Department Annual Reports 1919, Volume I, Part 2, Report of the Surgeon General; E. O. Jordan, "Interepdemic Influenza," The American Journal of Hygiene, vol. 2, no. 4, July 1922, pp. 325-345; and C. R. Byerly, "The U.S. Military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919," Public Health Reports, 2010, vol. 125 (Supplement 3), pp. 82-91 [available online].
See also "Flu- Like Hair, Most Everyone Has It": Kentucky, Lexington, the University of Kentucky and the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic, by R. A. Hogg (thesis); and H. Okland and S. Mamelund, "Race and 1918 influenza pandemic in the United States: a review of the literature," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, July 2019, vol. 16, no. 14: 2487 (full text online at NCBI PMC)].
KENTUCKY CENSUS DATA
- 1910 STATE POPULATION 2,289,905
- White 2,027,951
- Colored 261,656
- All Others 298
- 1920 STATE POPULATION 2,416,630
- White 2,180,560
- Colored 235,938
- All Others 132
- 1910 LOUISVILLE POPULATION 223,928
- White 183,390
- Colored 40,522
- All Others 2
- 1920 LOUISVILLE POPULATION 234,891
- White 194,769
- Colored 40,087
- All Others 35
Below is a table with data taken from the Annual Report, Mortality Statistics for the years 1916-1920. These annual reports (1890-1938) are available online at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Mortality Frequency Measures are also on the CDC website.
|
INFLUENZA/PNUEMONIA |
1916 |
1917 |
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
NOTES |
|
White
|
40.1
|
23.0
|
1,844 Deaths |
|
|
|
|
Colored
|
53.3
|
35.9
|
547 Deaths Jan-Aug |
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
41.4
|
21.4
|
2,391 Deaths |
160.3
|
75.9
|
1918 most deaths 20-29 yr. olds |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Major Kentucky Cities |
1916 |
1917 |
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
NOTES |
|
Louisville |
33.1
|
14.5
|
406 Deaths |
105.8 |
42.9
|
1910 Pop. 223,928 |
|
Whites |
29.4
|
9.6
|
261 Deaths |
|
38.9
|
|
|
Colored |
50.1
|
38.0
|
145 Deaths |
|
62.4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Minor Kentucky Cities |
1916 |
1917 |
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
NOTES |
|
Frankfort |
63.2 |
35.8 |
|
|
|
1910 Pop. 10,465 |
|
Henderson |
24.6
|
40.6
|
|
|
|
1910 Pop. 11,452 |
|
Owensboro |
140.6 |
83.0 |
|
|
|
1910 Pop. 16,011 |
|
Paducah |
44.3
|
7.9
|
|
|
|
1910 Pop. 22,760 |
