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Racial Segregation under Slavery

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ruef, M
Published in: Social Forces
2022

Social demographers and historians have devoted extensive research to patterns of racial segregation that emerged under Jim Crow and during the post-Civil Rights era but have paid less attention to the role of slavery in shaping the residential distribution of Black populations in the United States. One guiding assumption has been that slavery rendered racial segregation to be both unnecessary and impractical. In this study, I argue that apart from the master–slave relationship, slavery relentlessly produced racial segregation during the antebellum period through the residential isolation of slaves and free people of color. To explain this pattern, I draw on racial threat theory to test hypotheses regarding interracial economic competition and fear of slave mobilization using data from the 1850 Census, as well as an architectural survey of antebellum sites. Findings suggest that the residential segregation of free people of color increased with their local prevalence, whereas the segregation of slaves increased with the prevalence of the slave population. These patterns continue to hold after controlling for interracial competition over land or jobs and past slave rebellions or conspiracies.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Social Forces

DOI

EISSN

1534-7605

ISSN

0037-7732

Publication Date

2022

Volume

100

Issue

3

Start / End Page

935 / 960

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Related Subject Headings

  • Sociology
  • 4410 Sociology
  • 1608 Sociology
 

Citation

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Ruef, M. (2022). Racial Segregation under Slavery. Social Forces, 100(3), 935–960. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab012
Ruef, Martin. “Racial Segregation under Slavery.” Social Forces 100, no. 3 (2022): 935–60. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab012.
Ruef M. Racial Segregation under Slavery. Social Forces. 2022;100(3):935–60.
Ruef, Martin. “Racial Segregation under Slavery.” Social Forces, vol. 100, no. 3, Oxford University Press (OUP), 2022, pp. 935–60. Manual, doi:10.1093/sf/soab012.
Ruef M. Racial Segregation under Slavery. Social Forces. Oxford University Press (OUP); 2022;100(3):935–960.
Journal cover image

Published In

Social Forces

DOI

EISSN

1534-7605

ISSN

0037-7732

Publication Date

2022

Volume

100

Issue

3

Start / End Page

935 / 960

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Related Subject Headings

  • Sociology
  • 4410 Sociology
  • 1608 Sociology