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Family, Literacy, and Skill Training in the Antebellum South: Historical-Longitudinal Evidence from Charleston

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2004

JOHN E. MURRAY
JOHN E. MURRAY
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 773 - 799
Copyright
© 2004 The Economic History Association

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