Sundown Towns and Racial Exclusion: The Southern White Diaspora and the "Great Retreat"
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 112,
May 2022
(pp. 234-38)
Abstract
This paper studies the rise of sundown towns—places where Blacks and other minorities were excluded after dark—outside the South after 1890. We provide a new dataset on the timing of sundown town establishment using full count census records. Using a shift-share instrumental variables approach, we show that the presence of Southern Whites is causally related to the appearance of sundown towns, with lynchings and the establishment of KKK chapters as plausible mechanisms for racial exclusion.Citation
Bazzi, Samuel, Andreas Ferrara, Martin Fiszbein, Thomas Pearson, and Patrick A. Testa. 2022. "Sundown Towns and Racial Exclusion: The Southern White Diaspora and the "Great Retreat"." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 112: 234-38. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221104Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N32 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N41 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-
- N91 Regional and Urban History: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N92 Regional and Urban History: U.S.; Canada: 1913-