ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6, we analyze patterns of income and wealth by race and ethnicity over the course of the nation’s history with excellent data since the mid-twentieth century. Since education is the principal credential for employment, no one should be surprised that income and wealth also vary by race and ethnicity. Scholars have long sought to estimate the share of the value created by slaves that they were allowed to consume in food, shelter, medical care, and other expenses – usually concluding that it was between a fifth and half. Free Black wages in the nineteenth century were about half those of White wages and over the course of the first two-thirds of the twentieth century that proportion rose to about 70 percent but it has fallen more recently. As we shall see, Black and minority workers, male and female, make less than their White peers at every educational level. Not surprisingly, Black and Hispanic wealth as a proportion of White wealth varies year-to-year with economic fluctuations, but it usually averages 10 to 15 percent of White wealth.
