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Title: US Infant Mortality under Slavery and after Emancipation: New Evidence from Childhood Sex Ratios
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2025
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Abstract: I use childhood sex ratios to characterize infant mortality rates among the US Black population 1850–1880, until now a matter of speculation due to a lack of birth and death records. Because of the biological survival advantage of infant females, high rates of infant mortality tend to skew the surviving population toward females. Building on this well-known fact, I use vital statistics data from contemporary Europe to quantify the empirical relationship between infant mortality and childhood sex ratios. Applying this relationship to the 19th century US, I compare infant mortality between the Black and white populations under slavery, and infant mortality among US Blacks before and after emancipation. Circa 1850 to 1860, the infant mortality rate among the Black population was around 300 deaths per 1,000, while the rate among whites was likely below 100. Infant mortality for US Blacks improved substantially after emancipation, dropping nearly 100 points to around 200 deaths per 1000, while white infant mortality remained roughly the same, cutting the Black-white disparity in half.
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Authors: McDevitt-Irwin, Jesse
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Health, Race and Ethnicity
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