Vicious Habits: Sexually Transmitted Infections among Black and White Union Army Veterans.

We analyze a random sample of 15,049 white veterans and 5,329 black veterans of the US Civil War examined by physicians between 1890 and 1906. We calculate a period prevalence of STI of 1.2-1.7% among whites and 4.2-8.0% among blacks, even though blacks and whites had almost identical prevalence of STIs in their wartime medical records. Furthermore, we find evidence that Board physicians were on the lookout for STIs among black veterans that could be used to justify denial of pension support. With or without STIs, blacks were rejected at roughly twice the rate of whites during this time period. Currently, racial disparities are even higher today than in this historical period, with blacks currently having a 5-15 times higher incidence than whites. We invite a critical reflection upon practices of screening and measurement systems to assess properly the degree to which racial prejudice may be part of these systems.