Is the Past Present? Localized Effects of Memorializing Lynching Victims on Intra- and Intergroup Attitudes

This manuscript explores if memorials to collective violence can promote healing and reconciliation vis-à-vis changes in intra- and intergroup attitudes. The paper focuses on a case study: the National Memorial for Peace and Justice—the first national large-scale memorial to victims of lynching—in Montgomery, Alabama. Using data collected before and after the memorial’s 2018 opening, we assess the differential individual and community effects of the memorial by racial group, comparing residents and nonresidents on measures of racial ingroup and outgroup closeness and social distance. Overall, there was no consistent relationship between the memorial and intra-/intergroup attitudes. The results reveal that White Montgomery residents had elevated levels of ingroup closeness, in comparison with White nonresidents, and all Montgomery residents had increased feelings of social distance after the memorial’s opening, net of their racial identification. The findings inform future research on the potential ways that memorialization—both passively and directly—can impact reconciliation and intergroup relations.