Public Use Microdata Samples of the 1850 Slave Population

Investigator(s):

Russell Menard (PI) ; Joseph Alexander (Co-PI) ; Jason Digman (Co-PI) ; J. Hacker (Co-PI)

Sponsor:

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, MN 55455 6126245599

Start Date/Expiration Date

2002-08-01 to 2005-07-31 (amended 2003-06-26)

Awarded Amount to Date:

$209,886

Abstract: SES-0214300 PI (s) Russell Menard Joseph T. Alexander Jason Digman J. Hacker University of Minnesota- Twin Cities The project will create nationally representative datasets for the study of slavery and slaveholding in the mid-nineteenth century United States. New samples will be added to the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), a census database spanning the period from 1850 through 2000. Using the 1850 Census of Slave Inhabitants, the project will construct (1) a random sample of the slave population with all available slave and holding characteristics, (2) a smaller sample of the slave population obtained by linking slaveholders in the existing 1850 free sample to the slaves they held in the Census of Slave Inhabitants, and (3) a new version of the IPUMS 1850 freed population sample that identifies slaveholders in the existing dataset and includes a representative sample of slaves. These samples will complement similar samples of the 1860 slave population currently being created by the PIs. Large-scale nationally representative samples of the population censuses have transformed our understanding of American social, economic, and demographic history. The samples of the 1850 slave population will provide the earliest representative body of individual-level data on U.S. slaves and slaveholders. When used in conjunction with samples from the 1860 slave schedules this project will allow the analysis of change over time in the critical decade preceding the Civil War. Since 1850 and 1850 slave schedules were the only national individual-level censuses of the slave population, a sample of the 1850 slave census will provide a baseline for the study of the African-American population.

NSF Org:

SES - Division of Social and Economic Sciences

Award Number:

0214300

Award Instrument:

Continuing grant

Program Manager:

Patricia White
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences
SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences

NSF Program(s):

METHOD, MEASURE & STATS, SOCIOLOGY

Field Application(s):

Human Subjects

Program Reference Code(s):

UNASSIGNED, 0000

Program Element Code(s):

1333
SOCIOLOGY, 1331