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Start of Spanish Flu Pandemic in the U.S
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Introduction
A lot was happening in the years 1918 to 1920. Within this timespan, the 18th amendment (prohibition) was passed being passed left and right by more and more states, the Spanish Flu had popped up in Europe, Asia, and the U.S, and World War 1 was just starting to come to a close (lasting till November 11th,1918). Throughout this exhibit, we will primarily discuss the Spanish Flu Pandemic in certain cities in the state of Tennessee, as well as its connection(s) with WWI. (Knoxville,TN; Fall 1918) -
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Spanish Flu Pandemic
A Timeline of the Spanish Flu (Influenza) Pandemic with newspaper articles from various cities/towns in Tennessee at the time. -
Introduction pt.2
When the pandemic started to gain traction in larger and more densely populated areas, it spelled trouble for the whole world. Medicine wasn't ready for something of this category, with symptoms including fever, nausea, aches, diarrhea, pneumonia, dark spots appearing, and turning blue (suffocation due to lungs filling with blood in some cases)(npr.org, 1918 Killer Flu Reconstructed; October 2005). Needless to say, this strain was and is no joke, causing an estimated 50 million deaths worldwide. -
Introduction pt.3
You may have someone say "The flu killed more than the war", which seems a bit excessive. In fact, this turns out to be true, as confirmed by archives.gov's "The Deadly Virus: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918". With WWI taking 16 million lives worldwide, the pandemic trumps this by taking over three times as many. In the strain's early phases, it was often referred to as the "Three-day fever", meaning that it was here and gone, with patients recovering a couple of days after contracting it. -
Introduction pt.4
The virus had peaked in death tolls between October and November of 1918, remaining stagnant until peaking again in 1920, with a much smaller toll this time around. Although the war may seem like a separate topic, it turned out to be heavily influenced by the flu due to the close-quarters of the trenches. All it took was one man in the entire platoon contracting the flu and the whole platoon would be infected within a couple of days (depending on the size of the platoon and trench layout). -
"The Chattanooga News"
The Chattanooga news. [pg.6 of 10] (Chattanooga, Tenn.), 16 Oct. 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. -
"The States-Graphic"
The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.), 18 Oct. 1918. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. -
Graph of Death Toll
This graph shows the deaths for the flu peaking in October of 1918 then falling drastically. It then rises again in 1919 but is not as significant as before. -
End of Spanish Flu Pandemic in the U.S
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"The News Scimitar"
The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.), 24 Jan. 1920. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. -
Bibliography pt.2
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Bibliography pt.1
