Debt-to-Asset Ratio of U.S. Families by Race and Ethnicity

When considering Du Bois original data portrait “Value of Land Owned by Georgia Negroes” we came to realize that land ownership was the highest value asset and possibly the only asset of real value for some families. We parse this question for the 21st Century within a U.S. economic system that is radically different and for which Black families participate dynamically. We conclude that debt may be the most significant factor in any economic portrait and is particularly important when looking at Black families today where credit and credit worthiness maybe more consequential than actual funds. Our visualization shows how far “underwater” U.S. families are and what they have to buoy them particularly in difficult economic times for all. In the image we see the money bags in Du Bois’s original afloat at sea each accounting for the total assets of families and the water line demarks the severity of debt. The use of wood block relief evokes the turbulent seas of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave of Kanagawa”.