CLASS, RACE, AND FERTILITY IN THE RURAL SOUTH, 1910 AND 1940

Rural residents of the American South were among the last in the natio n to complete the transition from high to low fertility. Recently crea ted public use samples of the 1910 and 1940 U.S. censuses are used to achieve two objectives. First, class and race differentials in marital fertility among residents of the rural South are described during the era of transition. Second, the change in rural fertility between 1910 and 1940 is examined to assess class-specific involvement in the rura l transition. Significant variation in fertility by social class is ob served for blacks in 1910 and 1940. By 1940, significant class differe ntials emerge for whites, while those for blacks intensify. For both r aces, farm laborers report the lowest fertility. The analysis of ferti lity change between 1910 and 1940 reveals participation by all social classes, with farm laborers experiencing the steepest decline.