Racial Violence and Black Migration in the American South, 1910 to 1930

Abstract

We test a model of reciprocal causation between racial violence and black net out-migration from southern [U.S.] counties during the era of the Great Migration. Using county-level data for ten southern states including a new inventory of southern lynchings we find support for the model during two decades 1910-1920 and 1920-1930. Out-migration of blacks was heaviest from counties where more lynchings had occurred and in turn counties that witnessed relatively more out-migration of blacks experienced fewer lynchings of blacks. We conclude that mob violence was an important social force driving blacks from certain areas of the South. (EXCERPT)