Number of Confederate monuments linked to number of lynchings, study finds

Places with more Confederate monuments tend to also have a history of more lynchings, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Virginia.

Published by the National Academy of Sciences, the study analyzed county-level lynching data involving Black people from 1832 to 1950. The data showed that the number of lynchings in an area was associated with a higher likelihood that the same area would have Confederate monuments.

“This is not a surprising finding,” said University of Virginia researcher and psychologist Kyshia Henderson, who led the study. “The prediction was always that lynching and memorials would be connected. We made this prediction because we knew the history of lynchings and memorials. Also, scholars and activists have long said that Confederate memorials are associated with hate. We want to provide empirical evidence of that.”