Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:22:21.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Geography and Vitamin D on African American Stature in the Nineteenth Century: Evidence from Prison Records

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

SCOTT ALAN CARSON
SCOTT ALAN CARSON*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, School of Business, University of Texas, Permian Basin, Odessa, TX 79762, and Research Fellow, University of Munich, CESifo. E-mail: carson_s@utpb.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economic literature. Although blacks and whites today reach similar terminal statures in the United States, nineteenth-century African American statures were consistently shorter than those of whites. Greater insolation (vitamin D production) is documented here to be associated with taller black statures. Black farmers were taller than workers in other occupations, and, ironically, black youth statures increased during the antebellum period and decreased with slavery's elimination.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 812 - 831
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2008

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

REFERENCES

A'Hearn, Brian. “A Restricted Maximum Likelihood Estimator for Truncated Height Samples.” Economics and Human Biology 2, no. 1 (2004): 5–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atack, Jeremy, & Bateman, Fred. To Their Own Soil: Agriculture in the Antebellum North. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Barondess, D. A., Nelson, D. A., & Schlaen, S. E.. “Whole Body Bone, Fat, and Lean Mass in Black and White Men.” Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 12 (1997): 967–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baten, Jörg, & Murray, John. “Heights Men and Women in Nineteenth-Century Bavaria: Economic, Nutritional, and Disease Influences.” Explorations in Economic History 37, no. 4 (2000): 351–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boas, Franz. Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants. New York: Columbia University Press, 1912.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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
Bodenhorn, Howard“Mulatto Advantage: The Biological Consequences of Complexion in Rural Antebellum Virginia.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 33, no. 1 (2002): 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogin, Barry. Patterns of Human Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Bogin, Barry“Measurement of Growth Variability and Environmental Quality in Guatemalan Children.” Annals of Human Biology 18, no. 4 (1991): 285–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, Scott Alan. “The Biological Standard of Living in Nineteenth-Century Mexico and the American West.” Economics and Human Biology 3, no. 3 (December 2005): 405–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, Scott Alan “African American and White Inequality in the American South: A Biological Comparison.” Working Paper no. 1696, University of Münich, Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research, March 2006.Google Scholar
Carson, Scott Alan “Health during Industrialization: Evidence from the nineteenth-Century Missouri State Prison System.” Working Paper no. 1954, University of Münich, Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research, April 2007.Google Scholar
Carson, Scott Alan “African American and White Inequality in the nineteenth-Century American South: A Biological Comparison.” Journal of Population Economics (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Coclanis, Peter A., & Komlos, John. “Nutrition and Economic Development in Postreconstruction South Carolina.” Social Science History 19, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 91–115.Google Scholar
Coelho, Philip R. P., & McGuire, Robert A.. “Diets Versus Diseases: The Anthropometrics of Slave Children.” This JOURNAL 60, no. 1 (2000): 232–46.Google Scholar
Conrad, Alfred H., & Meyer, John R., The Economics of Slavery and other Studies in Econometric History. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1964.Google Scholar
Easterlin, Richard. “Regional Income Trends, 1840–1950.” in The Reinterpretation of American Economic History, edited by Fogel, Robert and Engerman, Stanley, 38–53. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.Google Scholar
Eveleth, Phillis B., & Tanner, James M.. Worldwide Variation in Human Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966. Second Edition, 1990.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W. “Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy.” American Economic Review 84, no. 3 (1994): 369–95.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W., & Engerman, Stanley. Time on the Cross. New York: W. W. Norton, 1974.Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert, Engerman, Stanley, Trussell, James, Floud, Roderick, Pope, Clayne, & Wimmer, Larry. “Economics of Mortality in North America, 1650–1910: A Description of a Research Project.” Historical Methods 11, no. 2 (1978): 75–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogel, Robert, Engerman, Stanley E., Floud, Rodrick, Friedman, G., Margo, Robert, Sakoloff, Kenneth, Steckel, Richard, Trussell, James, Villaflor, G., & Wachter, K.. “Secular Changes in American and British Stature and Nutrition.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 14, no. 2 (1983): 445–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Lawrence M. Crime and Punishment in American History. New York: Basic Books 1993.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, E., Livshits, G., Yakovenko, K. and Kobyliansky, E.. “Major Gene Control of Human Body Height, Weight, and BMI in Five Ethnically Different Populations.” Annals of Human Genetics 62 (1998): 307–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godoy, R., Goodman, E., Levins, R., & Leonard, W. R.. “Anthropometric Variability in the USA.” Annals of Human Biology 32, no. 4 (2005): 469–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haines, Michael, Craig, Lee, & Weiss, Thomas. “The Short and the Dead: Nutrition, Mortality, and the 'Antebellum Puzzle in the United States'.” This JOURNAL 63, no. 2 (2003): 382–413.Google Scholar
Harris, J. William. The Making of the American South: a Short History, 1500–1877. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgs, Robert. Competition and Coercion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holick, Michael F. “Environmental Factors that Influence the Cutaneous Production of Vitamin D.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61, no. 3 (1995): 638S–45S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holick, Michael F“Vitamin D: Importance in the Prevention of Cancers, Type 1 Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Osteoporosis.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79, no. 3 (2004): 362–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holick, Michael F“Vitamin D Deficiency.” New England Journal of Medicine 357, no. 1 (2007): 266–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Islam, Talat, Gauderman, W. James, Cozen, Wendy, & Mack, Thomas. “Childhood Sun Exposure Influences Risk of Multiple Sclerosis in Monozygotic Twins.” Neurology 69 (2007): 381–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiple, Kenneth, & King, Virginia. Another Dimension to the Black Diaspora: Diet, Disease, and Racism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiple, Kenneth, & Kiple, Virginia. “Slave Child Mortality: Some Nutritional Answers to a Perennial Puzzle.” Journal of Social History 10, no. 3 (1977): 284–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John. “Stature and Nutrition in the Habsburg Monarchy: The Standard of Living and Economic Development in the Eighteenth Century.” American Historical Review 90, no. 5 (1985): 1149–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John“The Height and Weight of West Point Cadets: Dietary Change in Antebellum America.” This JOURNAL 47, no. 4 (1987): 897–927.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 American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel, edited by Goldin, Claudia and Rockoff, Hugh, 297–329. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Komlos, John“Anomalies in Economic History: Toward a Resolution on the Antebellum Puzzle.” This JOURNAL 56, no. 1 (1996): 202–14.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 “On the Biological Standard of Living of African Americans: the Case of the Civil War Soldiers.” In The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective, edited by Komlos, John and Baten, Jörg, 236–48. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998.Google Scholar
Komlos, John“Underperformance in Affluence: The Remarkable Relative Decline in U.S. Heights in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century.” Social Science Quarterly 88, no. 2 (2007): 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John, & Alecke, Bjorn. “The Economics of Antebellum Slave Heights Reconsidered.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 26, no. 3 (1996): 437–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John, and Baten, Jörg. “Anthropometric Research and the Development of Social Science History.” Social Science History 28, no. 2 (2004): 191–210.Google Scholar
Komlos, John, & Baur, Marieluise. “From Tallest to (one of) the Fattest: The Enigmatic Fate of American Population in the Twentieth Century.” Economics and Human Biology 2, no. 1 (2004): 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John, & Coclanis, Peter. “On the Puzzling Cycle in the Biological Standard of Living: The Case of Antebellum Georgia.” Explorations in Economic History 34, no. 4 (1997): 433–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, John, & Lauderdale, Benjamin. “Spatial Correlates of U.S. Heights and Body Mass Indexes, 2002.” Journal of Biosocial Science 39 (2005): 59–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladurie, E. Roy, Le. “The Conscripts of 1968: A Study of the Correlation between Geographical Mobility, Delinquency and Physical Stature, and Other Aspects of the Situation of the Young Frenchman Called to Do Military Service that Year.” In The Territory of the Historian, edited by Reynolds, B. and Reynolds, S., 33–60. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Liu, Y. Z., Shen, F.-H., Deng, H., Liu, Y.-J., Zhao, L.-J., Dvornyk, V., Conway, T., Li, J.-L., Huang, Q.-Y., Davies, K. M., Recker, R. R., & Deng, H.-W.. “Confirmation Linkage Study in Support of the X Chromosome Harbouring a ATL Underlying Human Height Variation.” Journal of Medical Genetics 40 (2003): 825–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loomis, W. Farnsworth. “Skin-Pigment Regulation of Vitamin D Biosynthesis in Man: Variation in Solar Ultraviolet at Different Latitudes may have Caused Racial Differentiation in May.” Science 157, no. 3788 (1967): 501–06.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margo, Robert. Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Margo, Robert A., & Steckel, Richard H.. “Heights of American Slaves: New Evidence on Nutrition and Health.” Social Science History 6, no. 4 (1982): 516–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margo, Robert A.“Heights of Native-Born Northern Whites during the Antebellum Era.” This JOURNAL 43, no. 1 (1983): 167–74.Google Scholar
Margo, Robert A. “The Nutrition and Health of Slaves and antebellum Southern Whites.” In Without Consent or Contract: Conditions of Slave Life and the Transition to Freedom, edited by Fogel, R. W. and Engerman, S. L., 508–21. New York: Norton, 1992.Google Scholar
Metzer, Jacob M.“Rational Management, Modern Business Practices, and Economies of Scale in Antebellum Southern Plantations.” Explorations in Economic History 12, no. 2 (1975): 123–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mokkonen, Eric. Crime, Justice, and History. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Neer, Robert M.“The Evolutionary Significance of Vitamin D, Skin Pigment, and Ultraviolet Light.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 43, no. 3 (1975): 409–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, D., Kleerekoper, M., Peterson, E., & Parfitt, A. M.. “Skin Color and Body Size as Risk Factors for Osteoporosis.” Osteoporosis International 3, no. 1 (1993): 18–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nesby-O'Dell, Shanna, Scanlon, Kelley, Cogswell, Mary, Gillesie, Cathleen, Hollis, Bruce, Looker, Anne, Allen, Chris, Doughertly, Cindy, Gunter, Elaine, & Bowman, Barbara. “Hypovitaminosis D Prevalence and Determinants among African American and White Women of Reproductive Age: Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994.” American Journal Clinical Nutrition 76, no. 1 (2002): 187–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norman, Anthony. “Sunlight, Season, Skin Pigmentation, Vitamin D, and 25-hydroxyvatamin D: Integral Components of the Vitamin D Endocrine System.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 67, no. 1 (1998): 1108–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyström-Peck, Maria, & Lundberg, Olle. “Short Stature as an Effect and Social Conditions in Childhood.” Social Science Medicine 41 (1995): 733–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, R., Komlos, John, Long, Ngo, & Woitek, Ulrich. “Optimal Food Allocation in a Slave Economy.” Journal of Population Economics 16 (2003): 21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riggs, Paul. “The Standard of Living in Scotland, 1800–1850.” In Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History, edited by Komlos, John, 60–75. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Rosenbloom, Joshua. Looking for Work, Searching for Workers: American Labor Markets during Industrialization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggles, Steven, Sobek, Matthew, Alexander, Trent, Fitch, Catherine A., Goeken, Ronald, Hall, Patricia Kelly, King, Miriam, & Ronnander, Chad. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 3.0 (Machine-readable database). Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center (producer and distributor), 2004.Google Scholar
Russell, John H.The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619–1865. New York: Dove, 1969.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, K., and Villaflor, G.“Early Achievement of Modern Stature in America.” Social Science History 6, no. 4 (1982): 453–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steckel, Richard H.“Slave Height Profiles from Coastwise Manifests.” Explorations in Economic History 16, no. 4 (1979): 363–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steckel, Richard H.“A Peculiar Population: The Nutrition, Health, and Mortality of American Slaves from Childhood through Mortality.” This JOURNAL 46, no. 3 (1986): 721–41.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H. “Work, Disease, and Diet in the Health and Mortality of American Slaves.” In Without Consent or Contract: Conditions of Slave Life and the Transition to Freedom, edited by Fogel, R. W. and Engerman, S. L., 508–21. New York: Norton, 1992.Google Scholar
Steckel, Richard H.“Stature and the Standard of Living.” Journal of Economic Literature 33, no. 4 (1995): 1903–40.Google Scholar
Steckel, R. H., & Haurin, D.. “Health and Nutrition in the American Midwest: Evidence from the Height of Ohio National Guardsman, 1850–1910.” In Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development, edited by Komlos, J., 117–28. Chicago: University Press of Chicago, 1994.Google Scholar
Sunder, Marco. “The Height of Tennessee Convicts: Another Piece of the 'Antebellum Puzzle'.” Economics and Human Biology 2, no. 1 (2004): 75–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, James M. “Human Growth and Constitution.” In Human Biology: An Introduction to Human Evolution, Variation, Growth, and Ecology, edited by Harrison, G. A. et al., 301–84. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Tanner, James M.Growth at Adolescence. Springfield, IL: Thomas, 1978.Google Scholar
Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.Google Scholar
Tortolani, Justin, McCarthy, Edward, & Sponseller, Paul. “Bone Mineral Density Deficiency in Children.” Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons 10, no. 1 (2002): 57–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utterlinden, André, Fang, Yue, van Meurs, Joyce B. J., Pols, Huibert A. P., and van Leeuwen, Johannes P. T. M.. “Genetics and Biology of Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms.” Gene 338 (2004): 143–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wannamethee, S. Goya, Whincup, Peter, Shaper, Gerald, & Walker, Mary. “Influence of Father's Social Class on Cardiovascular Disease in Middle-Aged Men.” The Lancet 348, no. 9 (1996): 1259–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wardlaw, G. M., Hampl, James S., & Disilestro, Robert A.. Perspectives in Nutrition, 6th edition, 394–97. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.Google Scholar
Weisberg, Pamela, Scanlon, Kelley, Li, Ruowei, & Cogswell, Mary E.. “Nutritional Rickets among Children in the United States: Review of Cases Reported between 1986 and 2003.” American Journal of Nutrition 80, suppl. (2004): 1697S–1705S.Google Scholar
Wright, Gavin. The Political Economy of the Cotton South: Households, Markets, and Wealth in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 1978.Google Scholar
Xiong, E. H., Xu, F.-H., Liu, P.-Y., Shen, H., Long, J.-R., Elze, L., Recker, R. R., & Deng, H.-W.. “Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms are Linked to and Associated with Adult Height.” Journal of Medical Genetics 42 (2004): 228–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar