name: inverse layout: true class: center, middle, inverse --- #Publicity and the Delegitimation of Lynching Michael Weaver Yale University September 4, 2015 --- -- ##Societies accept or tolerate some forms of violence while rejecting others. --- ###Domestic violence -- ###Dueling -- ###Police use of force -- ##How does violence become publicly unacceptable? --- ##Lynching in the United States ---
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--- ##How did this transformation take place? --- ##The argument --- layout:false .left-column-1[##The argument] .right-column-1[ ###1. Increase in publicity * Technological change => greater reach * Social movements => inclusion of black voices ] --- .left-column-1[##The argument] .right-column-1[ ###1. Increase in publicity * Technological change => greater reach * Social movements => inclusion of black voices ###2. Publicity breeds criticism and scandal ] --- .left-column-1[##The argument] .right-column-1[ ###1. Increase in publicity * Technological change => greater reach * Social movements => inclusion of black voices ###2. Publicity breeds criticism and scandal ###3. Bad publicity turns Southern elites against lynching ] --- .left-column-1[##The argument] .right-column-1[ ###1. Increase in publicity * Technological change => greater reach * Social movements => inclusion of black voices ###2. Publicity breeds criticism and scandal ###3. Bad publicity turns Southern elites against lynching ###4. With opposition of local elites, lynching declines ] --- template:inverse #Part 1: ##Technology & Publicity --- .left-column[ ## Argument ###Publicity ] .right-column[ ###Turn of the century... saw massive expansion of - transportation networks (railroads) - communication networks (telegraph) - news services (e.g., Associated Press) ] --- .left-column[ ## Argument ###Publicity ] .right-column[ ###Turn of the century... saw massive expansion of - transportation networks (railroads) - communication networks (telegraph) - news services (e.g., Associated Press) ... which made the country smaller - reduced travel times for people and information - created a public eager for national news ] --- .left-column[ ## Argument ###Publicity ] .right-column[ ###Turn of the century... saw massive expansion of - transportation networks (railroads) - communication networks (telegraph) - news services (e.g., Associated Press) ... which made the country smaller - reduced travel times for people and information - created a public eager for national news ###Publicity of lynchings has greater reach ] --- .left-column[ ## Argument ###Publicity ###Criticism ] .right-column[ Breaking news of lynchings free from locality had three implications: 1. Loss of control over narrative 2. New audiences unsympathetic to lynchers 3. No ability to coerce critics Lynching events could become national scandals * Cost to reputation motivated politicians, business owners, sheriffs ] --- .left-column[ ## Argument ###Publicity ###Criticism ###Implications ] .right-column[ Difficult to test directly ####Three testable implications The probability that a lynching is reported in a newspaper: 1. **decreases with geographic distance** between the lynching and the paper. 2. **increases** as **travel times become smaller** between the lynching and the paper. 3. **increases** when the lynching occurred in an area more **central in communication and transportation networks**. ] --- template:inverse ##How do we test this? --- template:inverse ##The data --- .left-column[ ##Data ###Newspapers ] .right-column[ ###"Big data" meets history * Digitized historical newspapers * More than 3,000 different papers * Nation-wide coverage * Big-city dailies, small town weeklies * 8 million unique issues between 1880 and 1940 * Search for keywords and phrases * 1.2 million articles explicitly mention lynching * Several hundred keywords and phrases related to lynching discourse ] --- template:inverse
--- template:inverse
--- .left-column[ ##Data ###Newspapers ###Railroads ] .right-column[ Railroads are major source of communication and travel, approximate telegraph lines * Railroad connections between counties for each year between 1880 and 1900 * Period of rapid growth * 3109 counties in continental US * Network centrality of counties * Travel time between counties ] --- class:center, middle
--- .left-column[ ##Data ###Newspapers ###Railroads ] .right-column[ Railroads are major source of communication and travel, approximate telegraph lines * Railroad connections between counties for each year between 1880 and 1900 * Period of rapid growth * 3109 counties in continental US * Network centrality of counties * Travel time between counties * Railroad stations for each year between 1880 and 1910 * Scanned station lists for each year * Digitizing text, geocoding * Proximity to rail stations ] --- class: center, middle
--- template:inverse
--- .left-column[ ##Data ###Newspapers ###Railroads ###Lynchings ] .right-column[ * No complete national lynching data * 1880 to 1930s * Several academic sources, NAACP, and Tuskegee Institute. ] --- template:inverse ##The analysis --- .left-column[ ## Analysis ### Design ] .right-column[ Observations * Newspaper issues appearing within a week of a lynching * Newspaper issue - lynching dyads Design * Panel analysis * Year, publication, lynching county fixed effects * Publication-county, lynching-county covariates (population, GDP) ] --- class: center, middle Probability of lynching mention by distance
--- class: center, middle Probability of lynching mention by betweenness centrality
(deciles)
--- class: center, middle Probability of lynching mention by eigenvector centrality
(deciles)
--- class: center, middle Probability of lynching mention by travel time saved
across distances (in days)
--- template:inverse ##What's next? --- .left-column[ ##Next steps ###Criticism ] .right-column[ ###Does publicity produce criticism? * Measure criticism: keywords/phrases * Criticism greater at greater distances ] --- .left-column[ ##Next steps ###Criticism ###Lynchings ] .right-column[ ###Does criticism stop lynching? After lynching with major public backlash: * Local elites argue against lynching (newspapers) * Proposed anti-lynching legislation * Lynchings foiled/completed (data exists) After anti-lynching publicity campaigns: * ASWPL pledges ] --- .left-column[ ##Next steps ###Criticism ###Lynchings ###Analysis ] .right-column[ ####Quality of press data * Digitized papers representative? (LoC) * Match to specific lynchings (keywords) * Validity of keyword data: * ProQuest full text * Sophisticated text analyses ####Endogeneity of railroads * Travel-time/centrality are not result of local construction * Instrument: land grant railroads ####Information or importance? * Telegraph data (one state panel) * Demographic/economic covariates ] --- .left-column[ ##Conclusion ###Relevance ] .right-column[ ###Legitimacy of violence Relevant to causes, repertoires, consequences of violence ###100 years before twitter communication technology disrupted violent regime ###Dark period of racial history in US ] --- .left-column[ ##Conclusion ###Relevance ###Today ] .right-column[ ###Argument relevant today? Graphic video of police killings - Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray - Started debate over police brutality Did spread of mobile devices that take and share video upset narrative on police violence? ] --- template:inverse #Thank you --- template:inverse #Extra slides --- ##Equations ####Network centrality model `$$Y_{ijt} = \alpha_{year} + \alpha_{county i} + \alpha_{county j} + \boldsymbol{\beta}*\mathbf{CountyNetworkCentrality_{i}}$$` `$$ + \boldsymbol{\gamma}*\mathbf{Distance_{ijt}} + \varepsilon_{i} + \varepsilon_{j}$$` ####Travel time model `$$Y_{ijt} = \alpha_{year} + \alpha_{county i} + \alpha_{county j} + \beta_1*LandTravelTime$$` `$$ + \beta_2*RailTravelTime + \varepsilon_{i} + \varepsilon_{j}$$` --- .left-column[ ## Background ###Lynching ###Lynching discourse ] .right-column[ ###Arguments in favor * Inefficiency/corruption of justice system * Popular sovereignty * Law does not deter criminals * Threat of black criminality/sexuality * 'Natural' response to rape ] --- .left-column[ ## Background ###Lynching ###Lynching discourse ] .right-column[ ###Justificatory Narratives * Protagonists * Sober, rational, all/leading citizens of town * Passive voice: no individuals did the lynching * Lynching was natural/unavoidable response * Antagonists * Black men dehumanized: "savages", "brutes", "beasts" * Assumed to be guilty * By default shown as sexually aggressive, criminals * Lynched *because* guilty ] --- .left-column[ ## Background ###Lynching ###Lynching discourse ###Antilynching discourse ] .right-column[ ###Arguments Refuted pro-lynching claims * e.g. rape alleged in minority of cases * Lynching a threat to law and order * Lynching part of a system of racial violence * e.g. Du Bois: "The police is the mob. The courts are the lynchers." ###Narratives Black voices counter white narratives about lynching * NAACP investigations * Ida Wells publications * Scottsboro Trials ]