Spatiotemporal Changes in the Slavery-Inequality Relationship: The Diffusion of the Legacy of Slavery.

Despite the persistence of relationships between historical racist violence and contemporary Black-White inequality, research indicates, in broad strokes, that the slavery-inequality relationship in the United States has changed over time. Identifying the timing of such change across states can offer insights into the underlying processes that generate Black-White inequality. In this study, we use integrated nested Laplace approximation models to simultaneously account for spatial and temporal features of panel data for Southern counties during the period spanning 1900 to 2018, in combination with data on the concentration of enslaved people from the 1860 census. Results provide the first evidence on the timing of changes in the slavery-economic inequality relationship and how changes differ across states. We find a region-wide decline in the magnitude of the slavery-inequality relationship by 1930, with declines traversing the South in a northeasterly-to-southwesterly pattern over the study period. Different paces in declines in the relationship across states suggest the expansion of institutionalized racism first in places with the longest-standing overt systems of slavery. Results provide guidance for further identifying intervening mechanisms-most centrally, the maturity of racial hierarchies and the associated diffusion of racial oppression across institutions, and how they affect the legacy of slavery in the United States.

The Genes of Freedom: Genome-Wide Insights into Marronage, Admixture and Ethnogenesis in the Gulf of Guinea.

The forced migration of millions of Africans during the Atlantic Slave Trade led to the emergence of new genetic and linguistic identities, thereby providing a unique opportunity to study the mechanisms giving rise to human biological and cultural variation. Here we focus on the archipelago of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, which hosted one of the earliest plantation societies relying exclusively on slave labor. We analyze the genetic variation in 25 individuals from three communities who speak distinct creole languages (Forros, Principenses and Angolares), using genomic data from expanded exomes in combination with a contextual dataset from Europe and Africa, including newly generated data from 28 Bantu speakers from Angola. Our findings show that while all islanders display mixed contributions from the Gulf of Guinea and Angola, the Angolares are characterized by extreme genetic differentiation and inbreeding, consistent with an admixed maroon isolate. In line with a more prominent Bantu contribution to their creole language, we additionally found that a previously reported high-frequency Y-chromosome haplotype in the Angolares has a likely Angolan origin, suggesting that their genetic, linguistic and social characteristics were influenced by a small group of dominant men who achieved disproportionate reproductive success.

Ancestry, health, and lived experiences of enslaved Africans in 18th century Charleston: An osteobiographical analysis.

OBJECTIVES: In 2013, the burials of 36 individuals of putative African ancestry were discovered during renovation of the Gaillard Center in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston community facilitated a bioarchaeological and mitogenomic study to gain insights into the lives of these unknown persons, referred to as the Anson Street Ancestors, including their ancestry, health, and lived experiences in the 18th century. METHODS: Metric and morphological assessments of skeletal and dental characteristics were recorded, and enamel and cortical bone strontium stable isotope values generated. Whole mitochondrial genomes were sequenced and analyzed. RESULTS: Osteological analysis identified adults, both females and males, and subadults at the site, and estimated African ancestry for most individuals. Skeletal trauma and pathology were infrequent, but many individuals exhibited dental decay and abscesses. Strontium isotope data suggested these individuals mostly originated in Charleston or sub-Saharan Africa, with many being long-term residents of Charleston. Nearly all had mitochondrial lineages belonging to African haplogroups (L0-L3, H1cb1a), with two individuals sharing the same L3e2a haplotype, while one had a Native American A2 mtDNA. DISCUSSION: This study generated detailed osteobiographies of the Anson Street Ancestors, who were likely of enslaved status. Our results indicate that the Ancestors have diverse maternal African ancestries and are largely unrelated, with most being born locally. These details reveal the demographic impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Our analysis further illuminates the lived experiences of individuals buried at Anson Street, and expands our understanding of 18th century African history in Charleston.

Identifying Sexual and Labor Exploitation among Sheltered Youth Experiencing Homelessness: A Comparison of Screening Methods.

Human trafficking is a significant and growing public health concern. Subgroups of adolescents and young adults are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, especially youth who are unstably housed or homeless. While youth experiencing trafficking come into contact with the healthcare system, they are often not identified during routine assessment due to lack of specific inquiry and low disclosure. Therefore, we utilized a mixed-methods study design to assess the differences in the identification of human trafficking among youth experiencing homelessness (n = 129) between a standard psychosocial assessment tool and a human trafficking specific assessment tool. Findings indicate that the tool developed to specifically assess for human trafficking was more likely to identify youth experiencing sexual and labor exploitation, as well as the risk factors for human trafficking. Secondly, youth reported that mistrust of the system, fear of involving the police if reported, not wanting to interact with the mental healthcare system, and stigma are barriers to disclosing human trafficking. In conclusion, healthcare providers caring for youth experiencing homelessness should adopt improved screening tools for human trafficking to reduce the risk of missed opportunities for prevention and treatment among this high-risk population of youth.

The biological standard of living in pre-modern Korea: Determinants of height of militia recruits during the Choson dynasty.

This paper extends the research on the biological standard of living in the Korean peninsula back to pre-modern times. Drawing on militia rosters of the Choson Dynasty from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, we tentatively conclude that the final height of Korean men during this period was 166cm and thus slightly above that of modern North Korean men (165cm). On the other hand, the average height of modern South Korean men is 172cm, 6cm more than what we tentatively estimate for pre-modern Korean men. Regression analysis of the height of pre-modern Korean men finds that un-free Koreans ("slaves") were significantly shorter by about 0.6-0.7cm than commoners, whereas the average height of recruits suffering from smallpox did not differ significantly from that of other recruits. Moreover, regional, as opposed to birth-dummy, variables account, and to a significant degree, for most of the differences in height. Whether or not this is a result of socioeconomic differences across provinces or a result of other regionally-varying factors remains an open question.

Struggling to be seen and heard: the underserved and unserved populations.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to provide some current information on the topic of the underserved and unserved populations including modern-day slaves, stateless/displaced persons, refugees/migrants and indigenous populations. METHOD: Speech-language pathology education and services for the underserved as well as unserved populations are discussed. Three case studies which demonstrate knowledge transfer and exchange as potential models for future development are presented. CONCLUSION: These case studies lead to more inquiries, studies, innovations and involvement from individuals and groups who are concerned about the underserved and unserved populations.