In Similar Straits

Two scholars at Oxford University present sobering evidence that evil deeds and natural calamities cast a long shadow that spans generations.

(Graphic from eastchestermhs.wikispaces.com)

Regarding the violent act known as lynching, Cornelius Christian [bold added]

found that the higher an area’s lynching rate before 1930, the wider the income gap between blacks and whites remained in 2008-12, even when adjusted for factors such as the education and employment levels of a local area. A high rate of lynching widens this gap by as much as 15% in some cases.

(Graphic from english.illinois.edu)

Analyzing the effects of the 1930's Dust Bowl, Vellore Arthi :

found that those who were born or were children during the disaster had a lower fertility rate than their peers from elsewhere in the country, were less likely to attend college and were more likely to suffer disability and poverty when they became older....some of these disadvantages, in turn, are likely to have affected the life chances of their children.

One wishes that these reports looked beyond the gloomy averages to show how some black- and Dust-Bowl descendants successfully overcame the injuries that they and their families suffered.

Their stories, perhaps, can show us how best to help children in similar straits today.