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Tenancy and African American Marriage in the Postbellum South

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  • Deirdre Bloome
  • Christopher Muller

Abstract

The pervasiveness of tenancy in the postbellum South had countervailing effects on marriage between African Americans. Tenancy placed severe constraints on African American women’s ability to find independent agricultural work. Freedwomen confronted not only planters’ reluctance to contract directly with women but also whites’ refusal to sell land to African Americans. Marriage consequently became one of African American women’s few viable routes into the agricultural labor market. We find that the more counties relied on tenant farming, the more common was marriage among their youngest and oldest African American residents. However, many freedwomen resented their subordinate status within tenant marriages. Thus, we find that tenancy contributed to union dissolution as well as union formation among freedpeople. Microdata tracing individuals’ marital transitions are consistent with these county-level results. Copyright Population Association of America 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Deirdre Bloome & Christopher Muller, 2015. "Tenancy and African American Marriage in the Postbellum South," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1409-1430, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:52:y:2015:i:5:p:1409-1430
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-015-0414-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Frances Goldscheider & Regina Bures, 2003. "The racial crossover in family complexity in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(3), pages 569-587, August.
    2. Samuel Preston & Suet Lim & S. Morgan, 1992. "African-American marriage in 1910: Beneath the surface of census data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(1), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Samuel Preston, 1997. "Comment on steven ruggles’s “the rise of divorce and separation in the United States, 1880–1990”," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 34(4), pages 473-474, November.
    4. Goldin, Claudia, 1977. "Female Labor Force Participation: The Origin of Black and White Differences, 1870 and 1880," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 87-108, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Deirdre Bloome & James Feigenbaum & Christopher Muller, 2017. "Tenancy, Marriage, and the Boll Weevil Infestation, 1892–1930," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 1029-1049, June.
    2. James Feigenbaum & James Lee & Filippo Mezzanotti, 2022. "Capital Destruction and Economic Growth: The Effects of Sherman's March, 1850–1920," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 301-342, October.
    3. Andrew S. London & Cheryl Elman, 2017. "Race, Remarital Status, and Infertility in 1910: More Evidence of Multiple Causes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1949-1972, October.
    4. Muller, Christopher, 2019. "The Political Economy of Incarceration in the U.S. South, 1910-1925. Working Paper #105-19," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt0758z6m3, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    5. Regina S. Baker & David Brady & Zachary Parolin & Deadric T. Williams, 2022. "The Enduring Significance of Ethno-Racial Inequalities in Poverty in the U.S., 1993–2017," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1049-1083, June.

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