| History of black mortality and health before 1940. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 3327004 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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This article documents the history of black mortality between 1850 and 1940 and begins the process of placing that history into the context of the more general history of mortality decline in the United States. One aspect of this process has been to discuss the trends in mortality among blacks and whites living in the same general geographic areas--for example, comparing southern rural blacks with southern rural whites. A second part has been to relate black mortality to many of the factors that have been discussed as determinants of general mortality trends--such as water and sanitation, the urban disadvantage in mortality, and child care and feeding practices. During the second half of the nineteenth century, black mortality declined only slightly or not at all. Between 1850 and 1880 there may have been some decline in child mortality, but the trends in adult mortality are indeterminate. Between 1880 and 1900 both child and adult mortality rates were constant. Sometime between 1900 and 1910 mortality rates among blacks began to decline at all ages, especially in urban areas. During the first four decades of this century mortality rates among American blacks declined substantially. Expectation of life at birth increased from about 35 years to about 54 years, which represents a significant improvement in health and living standards. The life expectancy among blacks in 1940, however, was still two years below the value for whites in the death registration area in 1920. (This may exaggerate the difference slightly since the mortality rates for 1919 and 1920 were artificially low following the pandemic of influenza in 1918. In addition, the mortality rates in the DRA may not have been representative of the whole white population.) Throughout the period studied, blacks had substantially higher mortality rates than whites living in the same area. Although the amount of excessive mortality among blacks differed from place to place and period to period, we did not find a single area or time when black mortality rates were close to those of whites. The examination of causes of death among whites and blacks in 1920 showed that racial differences in the amount of tuberculosis explained a substantial part of the mortality differences in New York and North Carolina, but blacks probably had excessive mortality due to all causes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS) |
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Authors:
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D C Ewbank |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Historical Article; Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: The Milbank quarterly Volume: 65 Suppl 1 ISSN: 0887-378X ISO Abbreviation: Milbank Q Publication Date: 1987 |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 1988-04-14 Completed Date: 1988-04-14 Revised Date: 2004-11-17 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8607003 Medline TA: Milbank Q Country: UNITED STATES |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 100-28 Citation Subset: IM; Q |
Affiliation:
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School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104-6298. |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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African Americans
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history* African Continental Ancestry Group / history Health* Health Status* History, 19th Century History, 20th Century Humans Mortality* United States |
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