MPC Member Publications

This database contains a listing of population studies publications written by MPC Members. Anyone can add a publication by an MPC student, faculty, or staff member to this database; new citations will be reviewed and approved by MPC administrators.

Full Citation

Title: American Indian Mortality in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Impact of Federal Assimilation Policies on a Vulnerable Population

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2005

Abstract: Under the urging of late nineteenth-century reformers, U.S. policy toward American Indians shifted from removal and relocation efforts to state-sponsored attempts to civilize Indians through allotment of tribal lands, citizenship, and forced education. There is little consensus, however, whether and to what extent federal assimilation efforts played a role in the stabilization and recovery of the American Indian population in the twentieth century. In this paper, we rely on a new IPUMS sample of the 1900 census of American Indians and census-based estimation methods to investigate the impact of federal assimilation policies on childhood mortality. We use children ever born and children surviving data included in the censuses to estimate childhood mortality responses to several questions unique to the Indian enumerationincluding tribal affiliation, degree of white blood, type of dwelling, ability to speak English, and whether a citizen by allotmentto construct multivariate models of child mortality. The results suggest that mortality among American Indians in the late nineteenth century was very highapproximately 62 percent higher than that for the white population. The impact of assimilation policies was mixed. Increased ability to speak English was associated with lower child mortality, while allotment of land in severalty was associated with higher mortality. The combined effect was a very modest four percent decline in mortality. As of 1900, the government campaign to assimilate Indians had yet to result in a significant decline in Indian mortality while incurring substantial economic and cultural costs.

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Authors: Hacker, David J; Haines, Michael R

Periodical (Full): Annales de Dgraphie Historique

Issue:

Volume: 2

Pages: 17-45

Countries:

IPUMS NHGIS NAPP IHIS ATUS Terrapop