Citation

Miller MC. Demography 2018; 55(5): 1587-1609.

Affiliation

Department of Economics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA. millermc@vt.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Population Association of America, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s13524-018-0711-6

PMID

30218275

Abstract

This study introduces a new sample that links people and families across 1860, 1880, and 1900 census data to explore the intergenerational impact of slavery on black families in the United States. Slaveholding-the number of slaves owned by a single farmer or planter-is used as a proxy for experiences during slavery. Slave family structures varied systematically with slaveholding sizes. Enslaved children on smaller holdings were more likely to be members of single-parent or divided families. On larger holdings, however, children tended to reside in nuclear families. In 1880, a child whose mother had been on a farm with five slaves was 49 % more likely to live in a single-parent household than a child whose mother had been on a farm with 15 slaves. By 1900, slaveholding no longer had an impact. However, children whose parents lived in single-parent households were themselves more likely to live in single-parent households and to have been born outside marriage.

Language: en

Keywords

Cherokee Nation; Family structure; Fertility; Inequality; Slavery