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

1992/02/01 by Stewart E. Tolnay, E. M. Beck · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Employment and Welfare Studies #Homelessness and Social Issues #Criminology #Racial bias #Political science #Sociology #Racism #Demography #Gender studies

paper · doi:10.2307/2096147

openalex publication_date 1992/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

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)

Citations

• Black Concentration and Lynchings in the South: Testing Blalock's Power-Threat Hypothesis
• The Killing Fields of the Deep South: The Market for Cotton and the Lynching of Blacks, 1882-1930

Cited by

• Caste-based crimes and economic status: Evidence from India
• Lynching in the United States [wikipedia]