The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South

The Impact of Slavery on Racial Inequality in Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South Heather A. O’Connell, University of Wisconsin, Madison Despite Civil Rights legislation, racial inequality persists, especially in the context of poverty. This study advances the literature on racial inequality and the Southern legacy of slavery by examining slavery’s relationship with inequality in poverty. I analyze county-level Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/90/3/713/2235802 by guest on 29 September 2021 U.S. Census data using regression and spatial data analysis techniques. I find the 1860 slave concentration is related to contemporary black-white inequality in poverty, independent of contemporary demographic and economic conditions, racialized wealth disparities and racial threat. My research suggests the importance of slavery for shaping existing U.S. racial inequality patterns. Insights derived from this research, including the formulation of legacy as a place-based, continuous phenomenon that is distinct from racial threat, provide the basis for future research on legacy’s mechanisms. Racial inequality persists despite improvements in racial minorities’ social and economic standing. Although racial minorities have faced more favorable legal conditions since the 1960s, differences in social and economic success by race continue. It is critical that we understand the sources of racial inequality in the United States given direct efforts to ameliorate such disparities. Disadvantage is especially pronounced when comparing black poverty rates to those of non-Hispanic whites (Schiller 2008). In 2000, the average county disparity in the black poverty rate relative to the non-Hispanic white poverty rate is greater in the South than in the non-South (2.70 vs. 2.56, p < .05). However, the South is not homogenous. On average, the Southern black poverty rate was nearly 170 percent greater than the corresponding non-Hispanic white poverty rate (2.70), yet black disadvantage is not uniformly high across the region (see Figure 1). I advance the racial inequality literature by investigating the role of the legacy of slavery in generating black-white inequality in the U.S. South. Previous research on Southern poverty suggests spatial variation in slavery is negatively related to contemporary county poverty rates (Levernier and White 1998), but research has yet to examine slavery’s relationship to racial disparities in poverty despite slavery’s inextricable link to race in the U.S. context. I follow previous research by focusing on the South because the regional concentration of slaves within the South suggests slavery had the greatest direct impact on southern local areas.1 This work was partially supported by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Demography and Ecology center grant, #R24 HD047873. I would also like to thank Katherine Curtis, Mara Loveman, Mustafa Emirbayer, Amelia Karraker, Matt Desmond, Julia Goldberg, Adam Slez, Tim Smeeding, Ruth Lopez-Turley and Jack DeWaard for all their comments and support. Direct correspondence to Heather O’Connell, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1393. E-mail:[email protected]. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of North Carolina at Social Forces 90(3) 713–734, March 2012 Chapel Hill. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]. doi: 10.1093/sf/sor021 Advance Access publication March 26, 2012 714 • Social Forces 90(3) Figure 1. Black-White Inequality in County Poverty in the United States South, 2000 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/90/3/713/2235802 by guest on 29 September 2021 < 1 (min = 0) 1 - 2.5 2.5 - 3.5 > 3.5 (max = 21.05) Note: < 1 represents a white disadvantage. The importance of this work lies in emphasizing the added utility of consider- ing legacy when studying racial inequality. In so doing, I draw out the theoretical implications of what this analysis means for how we understand slavery’s contemporary impact. I accomplish this goal by simultaneously examining several major explanations for county-level racial inequality, including local historical attachment to slavery. Explanations for Spatial Variation in Black-White Inequality in Poverty The extant literature suggests four sources of Southern spatial variation in the black- white poverty gap: demographic and economic conditions, racial threat, wealth accumulation, and the legacy of slavery. First, extensive work on the spatial distribution of overall poverty (i.e., the poverty rate for the total population) has indentified key correlates of poverty (e.g., Voss et al. 2006). Established poverty correlates include metropolitan status, industrial composition and economic conditions. These factors are important for explaining overall county poverty rates, yet they may not explain why there is greater racial inequality in poverty in some places vs. others. Additional explanations need to be considered. Second, the racial threat literature has documented a positive relationship between a minority collective’s relative size in a place and its disadvantage compared to the non-Hispanic white group (e.g., Beggs, Villemez and Arnold 1997; Blalock 1956, 1957; Cohen 1998, 2001; Kornrich 2009; Tigges and Tootle 1993). Blalock’s (1967) Impact of Slavery on Poverty in the Contemporary U.S. South • 715 theoretical work on the topic suggests as the threat to the majority posed by a minority increases, so does the majority’s motivation to maintain its privileged posi- tion. Feelings of threat induce discriminatory behaviors on the part of the majority toward the minority. In this case, the threat of losing limited economic resources to blacks translates into an even more limited job market for blacks. To the extent to which large minority populations increase the majority’s desire to protect available resources, such as jobs, blacks will be more economically disadvantaged in places Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/90/3/713/2235802 by guest on 29 September 2021 where there is a relatively large black population compared to places where there are fewer blacks. Third, research related to wealth accumulation suggests wealth improves a per- son’s social and economic status, including political influence and purchasing power (Gilbert, Sharp and Felin 2002; Oliver and Shapiro 1995; Shapiro 2004). Wealth may be important for keeping households out of poverty because of the advantaged opportunities it provides in terms of neighborhood location and education (Oliver and Shapiro 1995; Shapiro 2004). Wealth is not evenly distributed along racialized lines, such that blacks are at a distinct disadvantage relative to non-Hispanic whites (Shapiro 2004). Racial inequality in wealth accumulation patterns is one plausible explanation for the spatial distribution of racial inequality in poverty in the U.S. South. Finally, demographic and economic conditions, racial threat and racial disadvantage in wealth accumulation are potentially important factors for explaining county-level racial inequality in poverty; however, an additional body of literature requires consideration, that of the legacy of slavery. Research on the legacy of slavery suggests slavery is related to a distinct contemporary social structure (Levernier and White 1998; Vandiver, Giacopassi and Lofquist 2006). A legacy of slavery social structure is theorized to be infused with remnants of slavery, including its ideology and practices. Researchers suggest that “historical conditions have become imprinted on the social and legal traditions of states, or even areas within a state.”(Vandiver et al. 2006:20) The social and legal traditions of a place with a historical connec- tion to slavery stem from an ideology that ranked whites above blacks. Drawing from this understanding of slavery’s ideology, I extend previous work by suggesting slavery’s social structural legacy differentially affects life outcomes to the disadvantage of blacks through adherence to social expectations of blacks’ racial inferiority. Economic disadvantage may exist due to discrimination within the labor market, or through lower quality education, which translates into lower income. This is not to imply that all individuals living in the South are inherently racist. In fact, the legacy of slavery and racism should be considered as distinct concepts. Racism pervades all regions of the United States. The argument presented in the extant legacy literature focuses on the social milieu of places, which suggests the legacy of slavery affects the guidelines by which individuals structure their behaviors not individual attitudes. The legacy of slavery literature suggests the utility of this concept for understanding the spatial distribution of racial inequality in poverty, yet the causal pathway through time is unclear. Slavery officially ended 150 years ago. However, despite its dissolution, 716 • Social Forces 90(3) it has shaped social, economic and political agendas since its inception in the United States. Coercive systems of social and economic control in the U.S. South, such as sharecropping, lynching and Jim Crow laws, developed in response to the social and economic void created by the abolition of slavery (see Royce 1985; Shifflett 1982; Tolnay and Beck 1995). As in the period from 1870 to 1960, slavery may continue to affect contemporary Southern society through the replacement of previous coercive

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