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Social policy, economics, and demographic change in Nanticoke‐Moor ethnohistory
Author(s) -
Blakey Michael L.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330750407
Subject(s) - ethnic group , ethnohistory , caste , colonialism , social class , geography , demography , ethnology , history , sociology , political science , anthropology , archaeology , law
The Nanticoke‐Moors of Delaware are an ethnic group of Native American, Afro‐American, and Euro‐American descent. Their physiognomic and ethnic marginality has subjected them to a limited range of social and economic options under the influence of American racial policies. This article concerns their ethnic formation in the colonial period and the demographic effects (changes in fertility, mortality, and structure) of their 19th‐ and 20th‐century social history. The demographic sample consists of 406 headstones from three community cemeteries. Each cemetery represents a socially and economically distinct unit, including a group that identifies with its traditional Indian heritage, an Afro‐American acculturated group, and a migrant community of marginal ethnic affiliation. Variation and change in life expectancy is shown. Relationships between the political and economic processes affecting Nanticoke‐Moor social affiliation, and those affecting color caste‐class formation among mainstream Afro‐Americans, are discussed.