Family, literacy, and skill training in the antebellum south: Historical-longitudinal evidence from Charleston

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University System of Ohio; University of Toledo
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050704002967
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 773-799
• 关键词: new-england; early america; CHILDREN; apprenticeship; write

摘要

Using individual measures of adult and child literacy, this article examines human capital acquisition in one Southern city, Charleston, 1790-1840. White adult literacy rates differed greatly by sex and class and rose gradually over time. Mothers played a critical role in human capital transmission in early childhood and long after children had left their care. Both relatively recent literacy acquisition and early childhood family structure influenced the occupation to which children were apprenticed. These results are consistent with present-day studies that trace sources of adult well-being back into childhood.