The future of a country is written in its demographics, and no region can avoid it. Eastern Ky. was a much different place in the early 20th century than after the Civil War and than it is today. This post is the first of several, occasional posts to provide background to some of the future posted stories and to show where we’ve been.
In 1900, the population of the 45 states was 74.6 million people. In 1920, that number had grown to 105 million for the 48 states, about a third of the U.S. population today. Meanwhile, Kentucky showed 2.14 million residents in 1900 and 2.41 million in 1920. Interestingly, the percentage of blacks in the 1920 Kentucky population was 9.9%, nearly double the percentage of 2005 but significantly less than the 13.3% of 1860.
The map below says much about how different eastern Ky. was about a hundred years ago. It comes from the 1920 U.S. Census. The counties with the vertical striping were the fastest growing, showing increases over 50 percent. They are Harlan, Perry, Letcher, and Pike. The counties in white all lost population during the period and make up almost half of all counties. So why was southeastern Ky. on fire, and what was the effect on the lives of our ancestors? To be continued.
I realize the map is still a bit small. Let me know and I will send you a full size version.
No comments:
Post a Comment