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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.
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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

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