Working Paper: NBER ID: w31331
Authors: Samuel Bazzi; Andreas Ferrara; Martin Fiszbein; Thomas P. Pearson; Patrick A. Testa
Abstract: This paper shows how white migration out of the postbellum South diffused and entrenched Confederate culture across the United States at a critical juncture of westward expansion and postwar reconciliation. These migrants laid the groundwork for Confederate symbols and racial norms to become pervasive nationally in the early 20th century. Occupying positions of authority, former slaveholders played an outsized role in this process. Beyond memorializing the Confederacy, migrants exacerbated racial violence, boosted novel forms of exclusion, and compounded Black disadvantage outside the South. Moving West, former Confederates had larger effects in frontier communities lacking established culture and institutions. Over time, they continued to transmit norms to their children and non-Southern neighbors. The diaspora legacy persists over the long run, shaping racial inequities in labor, housing, and policing. Together, our findings offer a new perspective on migration, elite influence, and the interplay between culture and institutions in the nation-building process.
Keywords: Confederate culture; migration; racial norms; institutional change; cultural transmission
JEL Codes: D72; J15; J18; N31; N32; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Migration of white southerners (R23) | Diffusion of Confederate culture and racial norms (J79) |
| Confederate diaspora size increase (N41) | Likelihood of black depopulation in sundown towns (R23) |
| Presence of Confederate migrants (R23) | Racial wage gaps (J79) |
| Presence of Confederate migrants (R23) | Rates of black incarceration (K42) |
| Presence of Confederate migrants (R23) | Police-induced mortality (K42) |
| Presence of Confederate migrants (R23) | KKK activity (J15) |
| Former slaveholders' occupational choices (J47) | Transmission of Confederate norms (P19) |
| Former slaveholders' community leadership (P12) | Embedding of Confederate norms in local institutions (O17) |