Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14318
Authors: Alvaro Calderon; Vasiliki Fouka; Marco Tabellini
Abstract: Between 1940 and 1970, more than 4 million African Americans moved from the South to the North of the United States, during the Second Great Migration. This same period witnessed the struggle and eventual success of the civil rights movement in ending institutionalized racial discrimination. This paper shows that the Great Migration and support for civil rights are causally linked. Predicting Black inflows with a shift-share instrument, we find that the Great Migration raised support for the Democratic Party, increased Congress members' propensity to promote civil rights legislation, and encouraged pro-civil rights activism outside the US South. We provide different pieces of evidence that support for civil rights was not confined to the Black electorate, but was also shared by segments of the white population.
Keywords: race; diversity; civil rights; great migration
JEL Codes: D72; J15; N92
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Great Migration (F22) | Increased Support for Civil Rights (K16) |
| Black Inflows (F21) | Increased Democratic Vote Share (D79) |
| Great Migration (F22) | Increased Propensity to Promote Civil Rights Legislation (J78) |
| Black Migration (R23) | Encouraged Pro-Civil Rights Activism (K16) |
| Greater Black Migration (R23) | Warmer Feelings Towards Black Americans (I39) |
| Greater Black Migration (R23) | Greater Concern for Civil Rights Issues (I39) |