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Title: Black Americans' Landholdings and Economic Mobility after Emancipation: Evidence from the Census of Agriculture and Linked Records

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2023

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Abstract: Large and persistent racial disparities in land-based wealth were an important legacy of slavery and Reconstruction. We combine records from the censuses of agriculture and population to observe farmers’ landholdings (acreage and value) in 1880, revealing large racial disparities. To assess how these disparities were transmitted intergenerationally, we link sons from both farmer-headed and other households to the 1900 census records. We find that Black landowners transmitted substantial advantages to their sons, particularly in literacy and homeownership, even in estimates based on within-locality variation. But overall, such advantages were small relative to the racial gaps in economic status.

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Authors: Collins, William J; Holtkamp, Nicholas; Wanamaker, Marianne H

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization, Race and Ethnicity

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