| Summary: | Up until the mid 1860s, an overwhelming majority of blacks in the US South were held in chattel slavery, from which they were freed after a Civil War (1861-1865). A recurring argument in institutional economics is that the institution of slavery did not disappear, but took other forms, e.g. segregation and violence. This is explored here, looking at the unsettling level of lethal violence against the black population 1875-1930. Literature empirically testing the legacy of slavery is hitherto scarce. I use a generalized difference-in-differences model to look at the effect of separate coach laws and disenfranchisement laws on lynchings and executions, respectively. All estimations are separated between blacks and non-blacks. I find precise and negative effects of disenfranchisement on executions of blacks and precise and positive effects of separate coach laws on executions of blacks. The same pattern holds true for lynchings of blacks, but only the estimate for separate coach laws is precise. No estimates are precise for lethal violence against non-blacks. This study lends support to the idea that lethal violence was used as an instrument to control the African American population.
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