Dimensions and Determinants of Early Childhood Health and Mortality Among American Slaves / Richard H. Steckel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steckel, Richard H.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w1662.

NBER working paper series no. w1662

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children--Mortality.

Children.

Children Nutrition.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1985.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1985.

Summary:

This paper relies on birth and death lists from plantation records to investigate the causes of low birth weight and poor health of young slave children. The sources of deprivation can be traced to the fetal period. The slave work routine was arduous overall and particularily intense during planting, hoeing, and harvesting. These demands combined with seasonal fluctuations in disease and in the quality of the diet implied that few newborns had escaped stress on intrauterine growth. Starchy food supplements given soon after birth and poor sanitation surrounding feeding provided a poor environment for growth during the first year of life.

Notes:

Print version record

July 1985.