A History of Violence: The Shadow of Sundown Towns in Far-Right Extremist Incident Perpetration

• In Event: Characterizing and Preventing Domestic Terrorism: A Mixed-Methods Study of Far-Right Extremist Incidents and Perpetrators

Abstract

History provides an important context for our current social landscape; however, it is increasingly difficult to quantify just how history has shaped society at the localized level. We investigate how past status of social discrimination through sundown town status has affected social, economic, and political development throughout the United States. Sundown towns, in particular, have an adverse history of marginalization of Black people along with other people of color. How and to what extent does past sundown town status affect the social, economic, and political development of a county? Further, how does past use of terrorism and racial violence affect contemporary levels of far-right violence? Using the James W. Loewen Historical Database of Sundown Towns in the United States, the American Community Survey, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Database on Far-right violence, a multivariate model clustered at the state and county level analyzes how having a sundown town within a county affected the socioeconomic demographics at the local level.

Author

• Hope D. LaFreniere, University of Massachusetts Lowell