Racial Diversity and Racial Policy Preferences: The Great Migration and Civil Rights

Between 1940 and 1970, more than 4 million African Americans moved from the South to North of United States, during Second Great Migration. This same period witnessed struggle eventual success civil rights movement in ending institutionalized racial discrimination. paper shows that Migration support for are causally linked. Predicting Black inflows with a shift-share instrument, we find increased Democratic Party encouraged pro-civil activism northern western counties. These effects were not only driven by voters, but also progressive working class segments white population. We identify salience conditions prevailing South, measured through reporting southern lynchings newspapers, as possible channel which whites' rights. Mirroring changes electorate, non-southern Congress members became likely promote legislation, grew increasingly polarized along party lines on issues.