| Description |
Using a new, representative, longitudinal microdata sample that observes native-born white and black men in 1917 and in 1930 in rich detail, this dissertation investigates the determinants of World War I (WWI) draft probability, the effects of WWI military service on subsequent occupational and geographic mobility, racial variations in the effect of WWI service on labor mobility, and racial variation in Southern out-migrant self-selection during the Great Migration period. Examining how family structure, literacy, occupation, and race affected a man's probability of conscription during WWI, this dissertation finds that inductees were more literate and healthier than the rest of the draft pool. Marriage and having dependents reduced a man's probability of being drafted. Having an agricultural occupation reduced the probability of being drafted for Whites, but not Blacks. Overall, the draft mechanism seems to have functioned as intended and positively selected inductees. This dissertation also finds that the effect of WWI military service varied substantially by race. Service slightly increased the probability of holding a white-collar or skilled blue-collar occupation by 1930, controlling for observed biases in the assignment of veteran status. White veterans who held such jobs before the war were less likely to end up in unskilled labor occupations in 1930. Skilled White soldiers held skilled jobs during the war where they could accumulate experiences transferable to civilian labor markets. Black veterans enjoyed no such protections from downward occupational pressures. WWI service did not offer upward occupational mobility to lowskilled workers or a transition out of agriculture for farmers and farm laborers. White veterans were more likely to make an interstate or interregional geographic move after the war, but Black veterans had the same rates of migration as Black nonveterans. Finally, this study observes black and white Southern out-migrants and nonmigrants before and after migration. Compared with their sending population, Black migrants were more literate and disproportionately from urban areas. Black migrants were more likely to have left from nonfarm occupations in the South and, among nonfarm occupations, professional blacks were more likely to leave. White migrants were more literate than their sending population, but otherwise representative. |
