Episode

2/22 Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics w/ Matthew Blackwell

February 22, 2019

Matthew Blackwell (@Matt_Blackwell), Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University, joins us to discuss his co-authored book, “Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics.”

Why do certain parts of the US seem to be particularly “conservative” when it comes to race? “Behavioral path dependence” and the effects of institutions on behavior. How the growth of US slavery centuries ago still affects politics today. The linear relationship between the increase in enslaved people in an area to current racist political attitudes today: The more the whites were outnumbered by slaves, the more racist they became. The extreme reaction by white southerners to emancipation. The persistence of racist attitudes that originated during slavery and emancipation/reconstruction.

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