After the Burning: The Economic Effects of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre / Alex Albright, Jeremy A. Cook, James J. Feigenbaum, Laura Kincaide, Jason Long, Nathan Nunn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Albright, Alex.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Cook, Jeremy A.

Feigenbaum, James J.

Kincaide, Laura.

Long, Jason.

Nunn, Nathan.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w28985.

NBER working paper series no. w28985

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2021.

Summary:

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre resulted in the looting, burning, and leveling of 35 square blocks of a once-thriving Black neighborhood. Not only did this lead to severe economic loss, but the massacre also sent a warning to Black individuals across the country that similar events were possible in their communities. We examine the economic consequences of the massacre for Black populations in Tulsa and across the United States. We find that for the Black population of Tulsa, in the two decades that followed, the massacre led to declines in home ownership and occupational status. Outside of Tulsa, we find that the massacre also reduced home ownership. These effects were strongest in communities that were more exposed to newspaper coverage of the massacre or communities that, like Tulsa, had high levels of racial segregation. Examining effects after 1940, we find that the direct negative effects of the massacre on the home ownership of Black Tulsans, as well as the spillover effects working through newspaper coverage, persist and actually widen in the second half of the 20th Century.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2021.