IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v335y2023ics0277953623005701.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Birth in the U.S. Plantation South and Racial Differences in all-cause mortality in later life

Author

Listed:
  • Elman, Cheryl
  • Cunningham, Solveig A.
  • Howard, Virginia J.
  • Judd, Suzanne E.
  • Bennett, Aleena M.
  • Dupre, Matthew E.

Abstract

The American South has been characterized as a Stroke Belt due to high cardiovascular mortality. We examine whether mortality rates and race differences in rates reflect birthplace exposure to Jim Crow-era inequalities associated with the Plantation South. The plantation mode of agricultural production was widespread through the 1950s when older adults of today, if exposed, were children. We use proportional hazards models to estimate all-cause mortality in Non-Hispanic Black and White birth cohorts (1920–1954) in a sample (N = 21,941) drawn from REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS), a national study designed to investigate Stroke Belt risk. We link REGARDS data to two U.S. Plantation Censuses (1916, 1948) to develop county-level measures that capture the geographic overlap between the Stroke Belt, two subregions of the Plantation South, and a non-Plantation South subregion. Additionally, we examine the life course timing of geographic exposure: at birth, adulthood (survey enrollment baseline), neither, or both portions of life. We find mortality hazard rates higher for Black compared to White participants, regardless of birthplace, and for the southern-born compared to those not southern-born, regardless of race. Race-specific models adjusting for adult Stroke Belt residence find birthplace-mortality associations fully attenuated among White—except in one of two Plantation South subregions—but not among Black participants. Mortality hazard rates are highest among Black and White participants born in this one Plantation South subregion. The Black-White mortality differential is largest in this birthplace subregion as well. In this subregion, the legacy of pre-Civil War plantation production under enslavement was followed by high-productivity plantation farming under the southern Sharecropping System.

Suggested Citation

  • Elman, Cheryl & Cunningham, Solveig A. & Howard, Virginia J. & Judd, Suzanne E. & Bennett, Aleena M. & Dupre, Matthew E., 2023. "Birth in the U.S. Plantation South and Racial Differences in all-cause mortality in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:335:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623005701
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623005701
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116213?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Werner Troesken, 2004. "Water, Race, and Disease," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number troe04-1, June.
    2. Wing, S. & Hayes, C. & Heiss, G. & John, E. & Knowles, M. & Riggan, W. & Tyroler, H.A., 1986. "Geographic variation in the onset of decline of ischemic heart disease mortality in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 76(12), pages 1404-1408.
    3. Alston, Lee J. & Ferrie, Joseph P., 2005. "Time on the Ladder: Career Mobility in Agriculture, 1890–1938," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 1058-1081, December.
    4. Roth, David L. & Skarupski, Kimberly A. & Crews, Deidra C. & Howard, Virginia J. & Locher, Julie L., 2016. "Distinct age and self-rated health crossover mortality effects for African Americans: Evidence from a national cohort study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 12-20.
    5. Schneider, D. & Greenberg, M.R. & Lu, L.L., 1997. "Region of birth and mortality from circulatory diseases among Black Americans," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(5), pages 800-804.
    6. Katrina M Walsemann & Stephanie Ureña & Mateo P Farina & Jennifer A Ailshire, 2022. "Race Inequity in School Attendance Across the Jim Crow South and Its Implications for Black–White Disparities in Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 77(8), pages 1467-1477.
    7. Eui Shin, 1975. "Black-white differentials in infant mortality in the south, 1940–1970," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Schulman, Bruce J., 1991. "From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt: Federal Policy, Economic Development, and the Transformation of the South, 1938-1980," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195057034.
    9. Hswen, Yulin & Qin, Qiuyuan & Williams, David R. & Viswanath, K. & Brownstein, John S. & Subramanian, S.V., 2020. "The relationship between Jim Crow laws and social capital from 1997–2014: A 3-level multilevel hierarchical analysis across time, county and state," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    10. Krieger, N., 2012. "Methods for the scientific study of discrimination and health: An ecosocial approach," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(5), pages 936-945.
    11. Wing, S. & Barnett, E. & Casper, M. & Tyroler, H.A., 1992. "Geographic and socioeconomic variation in the onset of decline of coronary heart disease mortality in white women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(2), pages 204-209.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alston Lee J. & Mueller Bernardo, 2018. "Priests, Conflicts and Property Rights: the Impacts on Tenancy and Land Use in Brazil," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Katrina M. Walsemann & Calley E. Fisk & Mateo P. Farina & Emily Abbruzzi & Jennifer A. Ailshire, 2023. "Race, gender, and cohort differences in the educational experiences of Black and White Americans," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(6), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Salisbury, Laura, 2014. "Selective migration, wages, and occupational mobility in nineteenth century America," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 40-63.
    4. Dušan Drbohlav & Dagmar Dzúrová, 2017. "Social Hazards as Manifested Workplace Discrimination and Health (Vietnamese and Ukrainian Female and Male Migrants in Czechia)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Julie S. Armin & Heather J. Williamson & Andria Begay & Jennifer Etcitty & Agnes Attakai & Kim Russell & Julie A. Baldwin, 2022. "Adapting a Cancer Screening Education Program for Native American Women with Disabilities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Webel, Allison R. & Cuca, Yvette & Okonsky, Jennifer G. & Asher, Alice K. & Kaihura, Alphoncina & Salata, Robert A., 2013. "The impact of social context on self-management in women living with HIV," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 147-154.
    7. Price V. Fishback & Andrew J. Seltzer, 2021. "The Rise of American Minimum Wages, 1912–1968," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 73-96, Winter.
    8. Kitchens, Carl, 2013. "The effects of the Works Progress Administration's anti-malaria programs in Georgia 1932–1947," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 567-581.
    9. James J. Feigenbaum & Christopher Muller & Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, 2019. "Regional and Racial Inequality in Infectious Disease Mortality in U.S. Cities, 1900–1948," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1371-1388, August.
    10. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2021. "Water purification efforts and the black‐white infant mortality gap, 1906–1938," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    11. Roses, Joan R., 2015. "Spanish land reform in the 1930s: economic necessity or political opportunism?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64498, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Harnois, Catherine E. & Bastos, João L. & Campbell, Mary E. & Keith, Verna M., 2019. "Measuring perceived mistreatment across diverse social groups: An evaluation of the Everyday Discrimination Scale," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 298-306.
    13. Scott A. Carson, 2008. "Nineteenth Century Black and White US Statures: The Primary Sources of Vitamin D and their Relationship with Height," CESifo Working Paper Series 2497, CESifo.
    14. Sabo, Samantha & Shaw, Susan & Ingram, Maia & Teufel-Shone, Nicolette & Carvajal, Scott & de Zapien, Jill Guernsey & Rosales, Cecilia & Redondo, Flor & Garcia, Gina & Rubio-Goldsmith, Raquel, 2014. "Everyday violence, structural racism and mistreatment at the US–Mexico border," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 66-74.
    15. Edward L. Glaeser & James M. Poterba, 2020. "Introduction to "Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment"," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Analysis and Infrastructure Investment, pages 1-38, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Chegwin, Valentina & Teitler, Julien & Muchomba, Felix M. & Reichman, Nancy E., 2023. "Racialized police use of force and birth outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    17. Fogel, Robert W. & Cain, Louis & Burton, Joseph & Bettenhausen, Brian, 2013. "Was what ail’d ya what kill’d ya?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 269-280.
    18. Beccia, Ariel L. & Agénor, Madina & Baek, Jonggyu & Ding, Eric Y. & Lapane, Kate L. & Austin, S. Bryn, 2024. "Methods for structural sexism and population health research: Introducing a novel analytic framework to capture life-course and intersectional effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(S1).
    19. Hicken, Margaret T. & Kravitz-Wirtz, Nicole & Durkee, Myles & Jackson, James S., 2018. "Racial inequalities in health: Framing future research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 11-18.
    20. Gordon, Allegra R. & Austin, S. Bryn & Krieger, Nancy & White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L., 2016. "“I have to constantly prove to myself, to people, that I fit the bill”: Perspectives on weight and shape control behaviors among low-income, ethnically diverse young transgender women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 141-149.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:335:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623005701. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.