Racial violence, past and present: examining the legacy of lynching, racial uprisings, and contemporary police violence

Abstract

Throughout the history of the United States, racialized forms of violence and social control have been used to enforce racial boundaries and the racial hierarchy of the nation. My dissertation offers a historically guided study of racial violence, resistance, and social control since the late 19th Century. I provide a detailed discussion of historical racial violence and how past violence has been embedded in more recent racially disparate forms of violence and formal criminal justice practices. Specifically, I examine two historical periods—the era of lynching and the era of resistance to racial injustices that was prominent through the 1960s and early 1970s—and consider how these periods may be related, as well as their potential legacy effects on more contemporary issues around policing (i.e., the use of lethal force by police measured through fatal shootings of Black Americans). We must grapple with forces of the past and attempt to understand how they may have transformed over time and may continue to influence contemporary social phenomena (e.g., criminal justice practices). The field of criminology has largely failed to acknowledge how the past may continue to influence contemporary issues. Thus, my dissertation offers a further step in understanding historical racial violence and resistance while addressing how this history can help us to understand contemporary forms of violence and social control.