Coughing Blood: Tuberculosis Deaths and Data on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1911–64

Tuberculosis was the foremost killer of First Nations populations during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to data from Death Certificates collected by the Yakima County Health Department and preserved by the Office of Indian Affairs, tuberculosis among the 14 tribes of the Yakama Nation took the lives of 619 people between 1911-64. The modal age group was those Yakama between 15-19, with people between 15-39 suffering 329 (53%) deaths. Changes in contact with bacteria, diet, housing, and seasonal rounds resulting from reservation life influenced high tubercular death rates among Yakama when compared to Whites and non-Whites in the US and the population of Washington.