J. Trent Alexander

Moving Out but Not Up Economic Outcomes in the Great Migration

The migration of millions of southerners out of the South between 1910 and 1970 is largely attributed to economic and social push factors in the South, combined with pull factors in other regions of the country. Researchers generally find that participants in this migration were positively selected from their region of origin, in terms of educational attainment and urban status, and that they fared relatively well in their destinations. To fully measure the migrants’ success, however, a comparison with those who remained in the South is necessary. This article uses data from the U.S. Census to compare migrants who left the South with their southern contemporaries who stayed behind, both those who moved within the South and the sedentary population. The findings indicate that migrants who left the South did not benefit appreciably in terms of employment status, income, or occupational status. In fact, inter-regional migrants often fared worse than did southerners who moved within the South or those who remained sedentary. These results contradict conventional wisdom regarding the benefits of exiting the South and suggest the need for a revisionist interpretation of the experiences of those who left.

Drawing statistical inferences from historical census data, 1850–1950

Virtually all quantitative microdata used by social scientists derive from samples that incorporate clustering, strati cation, and weighting adjustments (Kish 1965, 1992). Such data can yield standard error estimates that differ dramatically from those derived from a simple random sample of the same size. Researchers using historical U.S. census microdata, however, usually apply methods designed for simple random samples. The resulting p values and confidence intervals could be inaccurate and could lead to erroneous research conclusions. Because U.S. census microdata samples are among the most widely used sources for social science and policy research, the need for reliable standard error estimation is critical. We evaluate the historical microdata samples of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) project from 1850 to 1950 in order to determine (1) the impact of sample design on standard error estimates, and (2) how to apply modern standard error estimation software to historical census samples. We exploit a unique new data source from the 1880 census to validate our methods for standard error estimation, and then we apply this approach to the 1850–1870 and 1900–1950 decennial censuses. We conclude that Taylor series estimation can be used effectively with the historical decennial census microdata samples and should be applied in research analyses that have the potential for substantial clustering effects.

Defining the Diaspora: Appalachians in the Great Migration

New scholarship on southern white out-migration challenges long-held views regarding the economic difficulties experienced by Appalachian white migrants in the North. A comparison of the experiences of Appalachian white migrants and other southern white migrants during a forty-year period, using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series files (IPUMS), shows that Appalachian migrants were significantly more impoverished than were other southern white migrants. As recent research suggests, migrants from the non-Appalachian South made a smooth economic transition, but migrants from the southern Appalachian region were nearly as impoverished as southern African-American migrants and international immigrants from the poorest developing countries. For these groups, the economic transition was a slow and difficult process.

Frozen Film and FOSDIC Forms: Restoring the 1960 U.S. Census of Population and Housing

Abstract In this article, the authors describe a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center (MPC), the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Archives and Records Administration to restore the lost data from the 1960 Census. The data survived on refrigerated microfilm in a cave in Lenexa, Kansas. The MPC is now converting the data to usable form. Once the restored data are processed, the authors intend to develop three new data sources based on the 1960 census. These data will replace the most inadequate sample in the series of public-use census microdata spanning the years from 1850 to 2000, extend the chronological scope of the public census summary files, and provide a powerful new resource for the Census Bureau and its Research Data Centers.

A public use microdata sample of the 1860 census of slave inhabitants

Abstract The authors describe a public use microdata sample of the 1860 slave population of the United States recently created at the Minnesota Population Center. They discuss the key substantive issues that quantitative historians are likely to address with the data set, such as the demography of slavery, patterns in slave-holding, and miscegenation. They outline the sample design, data-entry procedures, variable availability, and documentation of the final data set.

Migrants against Slavery: Virginians and the Nation: Schwarz, Philip J.: Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 250 pp., Publication Date: March 2001

Current notions that ours is the original “age of anxiety” are probably incorrect. Peter Gibian, an associate professor of English at McGill University, shows that Oliver Wendell Holmes ( 1808-1 894) and his culture were rife with tensions and ambiguities. Holmes’s writings. xi interpreted by Gibian, open an important window on the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, only a relatively small number of literary scholars and intellectual and cultural historians will be willing and able to see much through this rarefied opening with its “American studies” language and sophisticat-