Water, race, and disease /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Troesken, Werner, 1963-
Imprint:	Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2004.
Description:	1 online resource (xvii, 251 pages) : illustrations.
Language:	English
Series:	NBER series on long-term factors in economic development NBER series on long-term factors in economic development.
Subject:	African Americans -- Health and hygiene -- History. African Americans -- Social conditions -- History. Waterborne infection -- United States -- Prevention -- History. Health and race -- United States -- History. Sanitary Engineering -- history -- United States. African Americans -- United States. Communicable Diseases -- ethnology -- United States. Water Pollution -- adverse effects -- United States. African Americans -- Health and hygiene. African Americans -- Social conditions. Health and race. Waterborne infection -- Prevention. United States. Electronic books. History.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11131128

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780262285186 0262285185 141756184X 9781417561841
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index. English. Print version record.
Summary:	A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effect of public water and sewer systems on African American life expectancy in the Jim Crow era.Why, at the peak of the Jim Crow era early in the twentieth century, did life expectancy for African Americans rise dramatically? And why, when public officials were denying African Americans access to many other public services, did public water and sewer service for African Americans improve and expand? Using the qualitative and quantitative tools of demography, economics, geography, history, law, and medicine, Werner Troesken shows that the answers to these questions are closely connected. Arguing that in this case, racism led public officials not to deny services but to improve them--the only way to "protect" white neighborhoods against waste from black neighborhoods was to install water and sewer systems in both--Troesken shows that when cities and towns had working water and sewer systems, typhoid and other waterborne diseases were virtually eradicated. This contributed to the great improvements in life expectancy (both in absolute terms and relative to whites) among urban blacks between 1900 and 1940. Citing recent demographic and medical research findings that early exposure to typhoid increases the probability of heart problems later in life, Troesken argues that building water and sewer systems not only reduced waterborne disease rates, it also improved overall health and reduced mortality from other diseases. Troesken draws on many independent sources of evidence, including data from the Negro Mortality Project, econometric analysis of waterborne disease rates in blacks and whites, analysis of case law on discrimination in the provision of municipal services, and maps showing the location of black and white households. He argues that all evidence points to one conclusion: that there was much less discrimination in the provision of public water and sewer systems than would seem likely in the era of Jim Crow.
Other form:	Print version: Troesken, Werner, 1963- Water, race, and disease. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2004 0262201488

Review by Choice Review

This book is part of the National Bureau of Economic Research series that examines historic factors in economic development. Troesken (history, Univ. of Pittsburgh) imaginatively argues that while segregation was pervasive by the early 20th century, water and sewer services in urban areas were becoming integrated. The benefits mainly accrued to poor, urban blacks, but the public health of all urban dwellers, irrespective of race, was improved as a result. Ironically, it was the desire of city sanitation planners (mainly in southern cities) to separate black waste from white drinking water in order to prevent the spread of waterborne disease such as typhoid that led to the creation of single large waste and water systems that served both white and black. As a result, black life expectancy rose dramatically over the first 40 years of the 20th century. This interdisciplinary study draws from demography, geography, history, medicine, law, and economics. Numerous graphs, charts, and scientific tables support the author's conclusions that while Jim Crow was thriving in many areas, it wasn't in water delivery and sewage disposal, and that integration will ultimately have enormous social consequences. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Research libraries. K. Edgerton Montana State University at Billings

Review by Choice Review

Water, race, and disease /

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