Monuments outlive history: Confederate monuments, the legacy of slavery, and black-white inequality

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-19-2020

Abstract

The conceptual linkages among Confederate monuments, slavery, and race suggest that Confederate monuments are relevant for explaining contemporary black–white inequality, yet we have little evidence on these relationships. I aim to further develop these possible connections. My analysis relies on a unique data set of Confederate monuments located in public spaces in the US South. I find that counties with Confederate monuments–specifically monuments inscribed with rhetoric glorifying either the soldiers as “heroes” or the cause as “pure”–have higher than expected levels of black–white poverty inequality. However, this relationship is stronger where the legacy of slavery is weaker, namely in counties with smaller historical concentrations of slaves. Confederate monuments are intertwined with a complex history, one that may continue to be reflected in the contemporary landscape of black–white inequality. The presented results are only suggestive, but they provide guidance for important avenues of future research.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Ethnic and Racial Studies

First Page

460

Last Page

478

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