OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between the legacy of slavery and contemporary racial disparities in homicide rates at the county level in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, multilevel, spatial dependence regression analysis. METHODS: County-level crude homicide rates and racial homicide disparities during the period 2000-2020 were obtained for the overall, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White populations. We explored the relationship between the percentage of enslaved persons in each county in 1860 and contemporary racial disparities in homicide using a multilevel, spatial dependence model. RESULTS: Controlling for a range of county- and state-level factors, counties in the South had a White homicide rate that was 16.3% higher than in the non-South, a Black homicide rate that was 21.3% lower, and a Black-White homicide rate ratio that was 32.4% lower. Higher White homicide rates and lower Black homicide rates in the South were only observed for firearm-related homicide. Within the South, the percentage of enslaved persons in 1860 was not associated with homicide rates in adjusted analyses. CONCLUSION: Even after controlling for a range of homicide-related factors, counties in the South had higher White firearm homicide rates, lower Black firearm homicide rates, and lower Black-White racial disparities in homicide. These results suggest that while the White population in the South gained socioeconomic advantage due to slavery, this came at the expense of increased levels of violence resulting in higher White homicide rates.
Siegel et al. (2026) studied this question.