1965 US Voting Rights Act Impact on Black and Black Versus White Infant Death Rates in Jim Crow States, 1959-1980 and 2017-2021

To investigate the impact of the US Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 on Black and Black versus White infant deaths in Jim Crow states. Using data from 1959 to 1980 and 2017 to 2021, we applied difference-in-differences methods to quantify differential pre-post VRA changes in infant deaths in VRA-expo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2024-03, Vol.114 (3), p.300-308
Main Authors: Rushovich, Tamara, Nethery, Rachel C, White, Ariel, Krieger, Nancy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black or African American
Black people
Black white differences
Counties
Exposure
Fatalities
Health services
Humans
Infant
Infant Death
Infant mortality
Infants
Intervention
Literacy
Mortality rates
Population number
Public health
Racial discrimination
Racism
Sociodemographics
State intervention
Trends
United States
Voter behavior
Voter registration
Voter suppression
Voters
Voting
Voting - legislation & jurisprudence
Voting rights
Voting Rights Act
White
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Summary:To investigate the impact of the US Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 on Black and Black versus White infant deaths in Jim Crow states. Using data from 1959 to 1980 and 2017 to 2021, we applied difference-in-differences methods to quantify differential pre-post VRA changes in infant deaths in VRA-exposed versus unexposed counties, controlling for population size and social, economic, and health system characteristics. VRA-exposed counties, identified by Section 4, were subject to government interventions to remove existing racist voter suppression policies. Black infant deaths in VRA-exposed counties decreased by an average of 11.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.7, 21.0) additional deaths beyond the decrease experienced by unexposed counties between the pre-VRA period (1959-1965) and the post-VRA period (1966-1970). This translates to 6703 (95% CI = 999.6, 12 348) or 17.5% (95% CI = 3.1%, 28.1%) fewer deaths than would have been experienced in the absence of the VRA. The equivalent differential changes were not significant among the White or total population. Passage of the VRA led to pronounced reductions in Black infant deaths in Southern counties subject to government intervention because these counties had particularly egregious voter suppression practices. ( 2024;114(3):300-308. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307518).
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2023.307518