Professors Mary Jackman and Kimberlee Shauman publish article on excess African American deaths over the 20th century

To take stock of the human toll resulting from racial inequality in the United States, Jackman and Shauman estimate the number of excess deaths that accumulated among African Americans over the 20th century as a result of the enduring racial disparity in mortality rates. Using demographic and vital statistics data, they estimate that there were almost 7.7 million excess deaths among African Americans between 1900 and 2000. Those deaths comprised over 40% of all African American deaths over the century. The excess death toll was generally higher in the early decades of the century, but the only period of sustained decline was 1935-1949. For most of the century, the excess deaths were disproportionately high among adults in the prime of life and among Black women, with profound implications for the welfare of their families and communities. The article concludes with an assessment of trends in the early 21^st century and the political challenges involved in tackling the continuing excess death toll.

See the full article here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/du-bois-review-social-science-research-on-race/article/toll-of-inequality/9F0994F128271F21B04749C1E8D905C1#