Swing Low, Sweet Chariot: The Mortality Cost of Colonizing Liberia in the Nineteenth Century (Population & Development)

McDaniel compares the mortality rates of the emigrants to those of other migrants to tropical areas. He finds that, contrary to popular belief, black immigrants during this period died at unprecedented rates. Moreover, he shows that though the emigrant's mortality levels were exceptionally high, their mortality patterns were consistent with those of other populations.

McDaniel concludes that the greater the variance between the environment left and the environment entered, the higher the probability of contracting a new disease, and, in some cases, of death from these diseases. Additionally, a migrant's health can be affected by dietary changes, differences in local pathogens, inappropriate immunities, and increased risk of accidents due to unfamiliar surroundings.

Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Abbreviations

I: Background to the Colonization of Liberia

1: Colonization and Mortality

2: The Return to Sierra Leone

II: Colonization and Mortality in Early Nineteenth-Century Liberia

3: Migration and Colonization in Liberia

4: Mortality of the Liberian Immigrant Population

5: An Event History Analysis of Mortality in Liberia

III: Liberian Mortality: Another Dimension of the African Diaspora

6: Liberian Mortality in Comparative Perspective

7: Epilogue

Appendix A: Data and Methods

Appendix B: Committee Report on the "Report on the Medical Statistics of the Colony by Dr. Henderson"

Appendix C: Additional Tables

Notes

Bibliography

Index