How’s that for a headline. The bad news comes from the Journal of the Public Library of Science. Maps A show life expectacy at birth for blacks (counties with more than five deaths for any 5-y age group were included to prevent statistical distortions) . Maps B show the same for whites.
The various shades of red mark the lowest life expectancy, and what is glaringly obvious at a glance is that Dallas is deep red, red, or reddish (except maybe for black males; I can’t figure out if that red county is Dallas or not).
The next question is why. The Gene Expression blog compares the maps of white males to one of Scotch-Irish ancestry by county and deduces a correlation. He particularly notes the purplish counties in Central Texas were settled by Germans (and Czechs). The incidence for blacks may reflect genetic intermixing in the South.
I have always — until a few moments ago, anyway — been proud of my Scots ancestry. Anyone named Lodowick Brodie Cobb Allison has little choice. But, really, it ought to come with a warning label.
