Full Citation

Title: Historical Lynchings and Contemporary Voting Behavior of Blacks

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2017

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Abstract: Cultural beliefs of a group, shaped by historical events, can impact a variety of behaviors of future generations with economic implications ranging from labor force participation to political activity. I analyze the extent to which the political participation of blacks can be traced to historical lynchings that took place between 1882 and 1930 in the same counties. Using county-level voter registration data, I show that southern counties that experienced a higher number of historical lynchings have lower voter registration rates of blacks today. This relationship holds after accounting for a variety of historical and contemporary characteristics of counties and strengthen when lynchings are instrumented with historical measures of environmental suitability for growing cotton. Examining individual-level data shows that blacks who reside in counties with more historical lynchings are less likely to vote compared to their white counterparts. Lynchings have no impact on voting differences between other minority groups and whites.

Url: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d553/5d1b9b3c0771ec265107bc8696663fec85e8.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Williams, Jhacova

Publisher: Louisiana State University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Other, Race and Ethnicity

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