Disease, Plantation Development, and Race-Related Differences in Fertility in the Early Twentieth-Century American South

A multiple causes perspective contends that economic development and poor health contributed to early 20th-century southern race-related differences in fertility. The authors link the 1910 IPUMS to the 1916 Plantation Census (1909 data), southern disease (malaria and hookworm), and sanitation indicators to examine fertility differentials, while accounting for child mortality (an endogenous demographic control). They find that African-American and white women in counties with higher malaria mortality had higher child mortality. Additionally, African-American women exposed to poorer sanitation and plantation development had higher child mortality. Consistent with a multiple causes perspective, white women's fertility was lower where land improvement and school enrollment were higher. African-American women's fertility was lower in health-place contexts of higher malaria mortality and greater plantation development.