The Color Factor

Howard Bodenhorn is Professor of Economics at Clemson University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has published widely on several issues in economic history, including banking and financial markets, the economics of race and identity, and the economics of crime. He has received several awards and grants from the National Science Foundation, and the Earhart, the Ewing Marion Kauffman, and the John Simon Guggenheim foundations.

• Introduction ; Chapter 1: Legal constructions of race and interpretations of color ; Chapter 2: Race mixing and color in literature and science ; Chapter 3: The plantation ; Chapter 4: Finding freedom ; Chapter 5: Marriage and the family ; Chapter 6: Work ; Chapter 7: Wealth ; Chapter 8: Height, health and mortality

In The Color Factor, Howard Bodenhorn provides a quite detailed examination of free black registers, tax records, and other primary and secondary sources for Maryland and Virginia in order to cast important new light on the still not fully understood aspects of the economic, social, and health differences between those considered to be mulatto and those regarded as black. This issue is not only of importance for historical studies but has significance for understanding the African-American community today.