Examining Migration’s Impact on Fertility Using the Exoduster Migration and IPUMS Full Count Data, 1880-1920

Brayden Rothe, University of Minnesota

Starting in 1879, the first major migration of Black Americans moved outward from the former Confederacy. Referred to as the “Exodusters,” they moved in a distinct migration to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado throughout the 1880s. This pre-Great Migration movement, distinct in both its size and orchestration, holds an important role in slavery’s demographic and historical legacy. Using IPUMS full count census data, this study will assess Exoduster net fertility in comparison to both black individuals that remained in the south as well as their white counterparts in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. This analysis will seek to understand various hypotheses around the factors of fertility and where the Exodusters fit in those hypotheses, namely whether socialization pre-migration or re-socialization post-migration has a larger impact on net fertility. Or, rather, would one motivated to emigrate reflect different inclinations for fertility, independent of either environment.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 57. Migration, Integration, and Social Outcomes: A Historical Perspective