example, consumption (tuberculosis) was the leading cause of death for blacks in Philadelphia and Du Bois (1899) indicated that the causative factors were primarily environmental. He stated that “bad ventilation, lack of outdoor life for women and children, poor protection against dampness and cold are undoubtedly the chief causes of the excessive death rate.” Du Bois (1899) also noted that the health of blacks varied within Philadelphia by neighborhood of residence. Death rates were higher in the Fifth Ward, “the worst Negro slum in the city and the worst part of the city in respect to sanitation,” than in the Thirtieth Ward which had “good houses and clean streets.”
