The Health of Slaves and the Health of Freedmen: A Savannah Study

A study conducted in the nineteenth century by W. Duncan (Tabulated Mortuary Record of the City of Savannah, from January 1, 1854 to December 31, 1869, Savannah Morning News Steam-Power Press, 1870) offers a new source of data for demographic modeling of black populations. This was a period of repea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Phylon 1977-01, Vol.38 (2), p.170-180
Main Authors: Lee, Anne S., Lee, Everett S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
African Americans - history
Black/Blacks
Causes of death
Civil wars
Death
Demography
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Georgia/Georgian/Georgians
Health care
History of medicine
History, Modern 1601
History/Historic/Historical
Mortality
Slave/Slaves/Slavery
Statistics as Topic - history
Tuberculosis
United States
United States/US
White people
Yellow fever
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Summary:A study conducted in the nineteenth century by W. Duncan (Tabulated Mortuary Record of the City of Savannah, from January 1, 1854 to December 31, 1869, Savannah Morning News Steam-Power Press, 1870) offers a new source of data for demographic modeling of black populations. This was a period of repeated epidemics; blacks were comparatively resistant to some of these, eg, yellow fever, but not to others, eg, smallpox or typhoid. Cancer & circulatory diseases were uncommon among both races. Suicide & homicide were unimportant among both races, but accidental death, especially by drowning, was quite common. Infant deaths were 25% higher among blacks, & deaths from puerperal fever were also more common, though low in both races. The health of blacks declined after the Civil War, due to the lack of economic interest of whites in preserving the health of free black employees, who had no resale value. W. H. Stoddard.
ISSN:0031-8906
2325-7199
DOI:10.2307/274680