title: Race, health, and disease in 19th-century-born males.
abstract: This study analyzed skeletal health disparities among African American and Euro-American males of low socioeconomic status born between 1825 and 1877. A total of 651 skeletons from the Cobb, Hamann-Todd, and Terry anatomical collections were macroscopically examined for skeletal pathologies related to dietary deficiencies and disease. Individuals were separated into age, ancestry, birth (Antebellum, Civil War, Pre-Reconstruction, and Reconstruction), combined ancestry/birth, enslaved versus liberated, and collection cohorts. These groups were statistically evaluated using ANOVA and χ(2) analyses to determine if age, ethnic, and temporal differences existed. Results indicated that African Americans, especially those born during Reconstruction, had significantly higher frequencies of tuberculosis (P = 0.004) and treponematosis (P = 0.006) than Euro-Americans. Historical sources are important in contextualizing why these different ethnic and temporal patterns were present, pointing to environmental conditions related to enslavement, postliberation migration to the industrialized North, crowded urban living conditions, and poor sanitation.
authors.affiliation: Anthropology Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA. cmdelaco@uncg.edu
authors.forename: Carlina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de la Cova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D047831:American Civil War; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044383:Black People; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000266:history* / Q000382:microbiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010164:Paleopathology; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American