Migration and the Geography of Racism in the U.S.

PI: Martin Fiszbein, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-PIs: Sam Bazzi, Associate Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy & Department of Economics, UC San Diego; Thomas Pearson, PhD Student, Department of Economics, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

While racial violence and racist ideology are associated with the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in the South, such violence is pervasive outside the South as well. To better understand the origins of racist institutions and ideologies across the nation, this project will investigate whether and how migration of whites from former Confederate states after the Civil war shaped racial animus elsewhere at a time of westward expansion and frontier settlement. The working hypothesis is that postbellum migration left a lasting cultural imprint in newly settled areas and that racism persisted through local institutions, intergenerational transmission of racial norms, and the arrival of migrants with similar ideology. To explore the links between southern White migration and systematic racism outside the South, the project will first examine selective migration and sorting across destination counties out of Confederate states. It will describe who these migrants were, where they came from, where they settled in the U.S. and what occupations they chose upon arrival. A key question of interest is the differential impact that white migrants had in different areas depending on their levels of population density and urbanization. As cities were more diverse, they may have been more immune to the influence of racist ideologies on local culture and institutions.

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