Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T11:58:16.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diets Versus Diseases: The Anthropometrics of Slave Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

Philip R. P. Coelho  and
Robert A. McGuire
Philip R. P. Coelho
Affiliation:
Philip R. P. Coelho is Professor, Department of Economics, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306. E-mail: prpcoelho@bsu.edu. Robert A. McGuire is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325. E-mail: rmcguire@uakron.edu. Coelho was supported by a George A. Ball Distinguished Research Fellowship awarded by the Ball State University Foundation.
Robert A. McGuire
Affiliation:
Philip R. P. Coelho is Professor, Department of Economics, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306. E-mail: prpcoelho@bsu.edu. Robert A. McGuire is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325. E-mail: rmcguire@uakron.edu. Coelho was supported by a George A. Ball Distinguished Research Fellowship awarded by the Ball State University Foundation.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

What were the living standards of American slaves? According to Robert W. Fogel and Stanley Engerman in their monumental study, Time on the Cross, the material standard of living of slaves compared favorably with that of other nineteenth-century agricultural laborers. More recently, utilizing anthropometric data that allow them to construct ageheight profiles for slaves, economic historians have cast doubts upon this view as it applies to particular age cohorts. They question the validity of the earlier assessment of living standards as it applies to slave newborns, infants, and children.

Type
Notes and Discussion
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , March 2000 , pp. 232 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, A. C. “Genetic Factors in Resistance to Malaria.” Annals of the New York Academy of Science 91, no.3 (1961): 710–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, Roy M., and May, Robert M.. Infectiour Diseases of Humans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atack, Jeremy, and Passell, Peter. A New Economic View of American History. 2nd ed.New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1994.Google Scholar
Berkowitz, Gertrud S., and Papiernik, Emile. “Epidemiology of Preterm Birth.” Epidemiologic Reviews 15, no. 2(1993): 414–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bodenhorn, Howard. “A Troublesome Caste: Height and Nutrition of Antebellum Virginia's Rural Free Blacks.” This JOURNAL 59, no. 4 (1999): 972–96.Google Scholar
Brabin, B. J. “The Risks and Severity of Malaria in Pregnant Women.” Applied Field Research in Malaria Reports No. 1. TDR (Training in Tropical Disease) UNDP/World Bank/World Health Organization, 1991.Google Scholar
Bryant, Heather E., and Love, Edgar J.. “Effect of Employment and Its Correlates on Spontaneous Abortion Risk.” Social Science and Medicine 33, no. 7 (1991): 795–800.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruce-Chwatt, Leonard Jan. Essential Malariology. London: William Heinemann Medical Books, 1980.Google Scholar
Chandler, Asa C.Hookworm Disease: Its Distribution, Biology, Epidemiology, Pathology, Diagnosis, Treatment and Control. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1929.Google Scholar
Coelho, Philip R. P., and McGuire, Robert A.. “African and European Bound Labor in the British New World: The Biological Consequences of Economic Choices.” ThisJOURNAL 57, no. 1 (1997): 83–115.Google Scholar
Coelho, Philip R. P., and McGuire, Robert A.. “Biology, Diseases, and Economics: An Epidemiological History of Slavery in the American South.” Journal of Bioeconomics 1, no. 2 (1999): 151–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dock, George, and Bass, Charles C.. Hookworm Disease. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Company, 1910.Google Scholar
DuPont, Herbert L. “Diarrheal Diseases (Acute).” In The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. edited by Kiple, Kenneth F., 676–80. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogel, Robert William. “Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality since 1700: Some Preliminary Findings.” In Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, edited by Engerman, Stanley L. and Gallman, Robert E., 439–555. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert William, and Engerman, Stanley L.. Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1974.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert William, and Engerman, Stanley L.. Time on the Cross II: Evidence and Methods. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1974.Google Scholar
Foo, Li Chien. “Hookworm Infection and Protein-Energy Malnutrition: Transverse Evidence From Two Malaysian Ecological Groups.” Tropical and Geographical Medicine 42, no. 1 (1990): 8–12.Google ScholarPubMed
Harris, Bernard. “Health, Height, and History: An Overview of Recent Developments in Anthropometric History.” Social History of Medicine 7, no. 2 (1994): 297–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kilama, W. A. “Hookworm Infection and Disease in Africa and the Middle East.” In Hookworm Disease: Current Status and New Directions, edited by Schad, Gerhard A. and Warren, K. S., 17–32. London: Taylor and Francis, 1990.Google Scholar
Komlos, John. “Toward an Anthropometric History of African-Americans: The Case of the Free Blacks in Antebellum Maryland.” In Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century America Economic History, edited by Goldin, Claudia and Rockoff, Hugh, 297–329. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Komlos, John. “Shrinking in a Growing Economy? The Mystery of Physical Stature during the Industrial Revolution.” This JOURNAL 58, no. 3, (1998): 779–802.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, and Coclanis, Peter. “Nutrition and Economic Development in Post-Reconstruction South Carolina: An Anthropometric Approach.” Social Science History 19, no. 1 (1995): 91–115.Google Scholar
Margo, Robert A., and Steckel, Richard H.. “The Heights of American Slaves: New Evidence on Slave Nutrition and Health.” Social Science History 6, no. 4(1982): 516–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margo, Robert A., and Steckel, Richard H.. “Heights of Native-Born Whites during the Antebellum Period.” this JOURNAL 43, no. 1(1983): 167–74.Google ScholarPubMed
Meuris, Sylvain Bokumu Bosango Piko, Eerens, Peter et al. “Gestational Malaria: Assessment of Its Consequences on Fetal Growth.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 48, no. 5 (1993): 603–09.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Migasena, S., and Gilles, H. M.. “Clinical Features and Diagnosis.” In Hookworm Infections, edited by Gilles, H. M. and Ball, P. A. J., 179–93. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1991.Google Scholar
Oaks, Stanley C. Jr, Mitchell, Violaine S., Pearson, Greg W., and Carpenter, Charles C. J., Malaria: Obstacles and Opportunities. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Poerksen, Anja, and Petitti, Diana B.. “Employment and Low Birth Weight in Black Women.” Social Science and Medicine 33, no. 11(1991): 1281–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schad, Gerhard A. “The Parasite.” In Hookworm infections, edited by Gilles, H. M. and Ball, P. A. J., 15–49. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1991.Google Scholar
Simpson, Joe Leigh. “Are Physical Activity and Employment Related to Preterm Birth and Low Birth Weight?” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 168, no. 4 (1993): 1231–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steckel, Richard H. “Slave Height Profiles from Coastwise Manifests.” Explorations in Economic History 16, no. 4 (1979): 363–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steckel, Richard H. “Birth Weights and Infant Mortality Among American Slaves.” Explorations in Economic History 23, no. 2 (1986): 173–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steckel, Richard H. “A Peculiar Population: The Nutrition, Health, and Mortality of American Slaves From Childhood to Maturity.” This JOURNAL 46, no. 3 (1986): 721–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Steckel, Richard H. “A Dreadful Childhood: The Excess Mortality of American Slaves.” Social Science History 10, no. 4 (1986): 427–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steckel, Richard H. “Work, Disease, and Diet in the Health and Mortality of American Slaves.” In Without Consent or Contract: Technical Papers Vol. II, Vol. 4, edited by Fogel, Robert W. and Engerman, Stanley L., 489–507. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “Percentiles of Modern Height Standards for Use in Historical Research.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working, Paper Series on Historical Factors in Long Run Growth, Historical Paper 75, 10, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “The Health of American Slaves: New Evidence and Analysis.” Paper presented at the Social Science History Association meetings, Chicago, 16–1911 1995.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “Stature and the Standard of Living.” Journal of Economic Literature 33, no. 4 (1995): 1903–40.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “Nutritional Status in the Colonial American Economy.” The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 55, no. 1 (1999): 31–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steketee, Richard W., Wirima, Jack J., Hightower, Allen W. et al. “The Effect of Malaria and Malaria Prevention In Pregnancy on Offspring Birthweight, Prematurity, and Intrauterine Growth Retardation in Rural Malawi.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 55, no. 1 suppl. (1996): 33–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephenson, Lani S., Latham, Michael C., Adams, Elizabeth J. et al. , “Weight Gain of Kenyan School Children Infected with Hookworm, Trichuris tichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides is Improved Following Once- or Twice-Yearly Treatment with Abendazole1, 2.” Journal of Nutrition 123, no. 4 (1993): 656–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephenson, Lani S., Latham, Michael C., Adams, Elizabeth J. “Physical Fitness, Growth and Appetite of Kenyan School Boys with Hookworm, Trichuris tichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides. Infections are Improved Four Months After a Single Dose of Abendazole.” Journal of Nutrition 123, no. 6 (1993): 1036–46.Google Scholar
Stephenson, Lani S., Latham, Michael C., Kurz, Kathleen M. et al. “Relationships of Schistosoma haematobium, Hookworm, and Malarial Infections and Metrifonate Treatment to Nutritional Status of Kenyan Coastal School Children: A 16-Month Follow-Up.” In Schistosomiasis and Malnutrition, edited by Stephenson, Lani S., 26–68. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University International Nutrition Monograph Series, No. 16, 1986.Google Scholar
Stoltzfus, R. J., Chwaya, H. M., Tielsch, J. M. et al. , “Epidemiology of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Zanzibari Schoolchildren: The Importance of Hookworms”. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 65, no. 1 (1997): 153–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stuart-Macadam, Patricia and Kent, Susan, eds. Diet, Demography, and Disease: Changing Perspectives on Anemia. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1992.Google Scholar