Inclusive American Economic History: Containing Slaves, Freedmen, Jim Crow Laws and the Great Migration

Abstract

This paper records the path by which African Americans were transformed from enslaved persons in the American economy to partial participants in the progress of the economy. The path was not monotonic, and we organize our tale by periods in which inclusiveness rose and fell. The history we recount demonstrates the staying power of the myth of black inferiority held by a changing white majority as the economy expanded dramatically. Slavery was outlawed after the Civil War, and blacks began to participate in American politics en masse for the first time during Reconstruction. This process met with white resistance, and black inclusion in the growing economy fell as the Gilded Age followed and white political will for black political participation faded. The Second World War also was followed by prosperity in which blacks were included more fully into the white economy, but still not completely. The Civil Rights Movement proved no more durable than Reconstruction, and blacks lost ground as the 20th century ended in the growth of a New Gilded Age. Resources that could be used to improve the welfare of whites and blacks continue to be spent on the continued repressions of blacks.

Structural racism and health in the age of COVID‐19: A selective review with policy implications

“…Yet, voting rights have been and remain a critical and highly contentious issue in American life. Reversals often follow gains in voting rights for Americans (De Rienzo Jr., 2022; Logan & Temin, 2020; Mintz, 2004). For instance, despite multiple constitutional amendments designed to protect equal rights, including voting rights (e.g., Amendments 14, 15, 24), and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the voting rights of Black Americans remain under attack.…”

Indigenous Nations and the Development of the U.S. Economy: Land, Resources, and Dispossession

“…Perhaps the only paper in economic history that explicitly addresses the evolution of property ownership and sovereignty between the United States and Indigenous nations isAnderson and Mc Chesney (1994).7 On the Dawes Act, seeAkee (2020),Carlson (1978Carlson ( , 1981Carlson ( , 1983,Miller (2015),Dippel and Fry (2019),Dippel et al (2020), andLeonard et al (2020).8 Exceptions includeWishart (1995),Gregg (2009), andGregg and Wishart (2012) on the Cherokee economy and their removal.9 Our paper parallels new work on the development of the US economy, slavery, and how Black Americans faced extractive institutions(Derenoncourt, 2017) and who too were dispossessed(Logan and Temin, 2020).…”

“…Connolly (2020Connolly ( , 2021, as one example, examines the role of state bond purchases by Indian trust funds in financing railways and banks, and the role of Indigenous land transfers in financial crises (1819, 1837). 53 Similarly, Logan and Temin (2020) argue for a more inclusive American economic historiography that pays attention to where Black Americans were included and excluded from the story of U.S. economic growth.…”