Black Suicide in New Orleans (IN:Suicidology: Contemporary Developments, ed. by E S Shneidman)

This chapter addresses 3 questions: 1) why do blacks commit suicide? 2) why is the rate so low? 3) what has changed since the civil rights movement began? Issues such as overregulation & the black male, solidarity in the black community, a conceptualization of the reasons for the low suicide rate among blacks, the role of religion, special circumstances that make life for New Orleans blacks less enervating, & speculation about the future are included in the discussion. (29 refs.) (LH)