Historical Lynchings and the Contemporary Voting Behavior of Blacks

Abstract

This paper analyzes the extent to which the political participation of Blacks can be traced to historical lynchings that took place from 1882 to 1930. Using county-level voter registration data, I show that Blacks who reside in southern counties that experienced a relatively higher number of historical lynchings have lower voter registration rates today. This relationship holds after accounting for a variety of historical and contemporary characteristics of counties. There exists evidence of the persistence of cultural voting norms among Blacks, yet this relationship does not exist for Whites. (JEL D72, J15, N31, N32, N41, N42, Z13)