Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family

Graziella Bertocchi () and Arcangelo Dimico

No 14837, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We empirically assess the effect of historical slavery on the African American family structure. Our hypothesis is that female single headship among blacks is more likely to emerge in association not with slavery per se, but with slavery in sugar plantations, since the extreme demographic and social conditions prevailing in the latter have persistently affected family formation patterns. By exploiting the exogenous variation in sugar suitability, we establish the following. In 1850, sugar suitability is indeed associated with extreme demographic outcomes within the slave population. Over the period 1880-1940, higher sugar suitability determines a higher likelihood of single female headship. The effect is driven by blacks and starts fading in 1920 in connection with the Great Migration. OLS estimates are complemented with a matching estimator and a fuzzy RDD. Over a linked sample between 1880 and 1930, we identify an even stronger intergenerational legacy of sugar planting for migrants. By 1990, the effect of sugar is replaced by that of slavery and the black share, consistent with the spread of its influence through migration and intermarriage, and black incarceration emerges as a powerful mediator. By matching slaves' ethnic origins with ethnographic data we rule out any influence of African cultural traditions.

Keywords: Black family; Slavery; Sugar; Migration; Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J47 N30 O13 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP14837 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
Working Paper: Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14837

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP14837

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().