Historical Racial Regimes and Community Protection from Redistricting

Robert Vargas, Paola Del Toro, Christina Cano, Ariel Azar, Sherry Zhang, Brian Fenaughty, Chris Williams

Abstract: Much research on the racial politics of redistricting focus on the period of the “redistricting revolution” after 1965. This study takes a more historical approach to this topic by asking: how have select communities within cities managed to avoid ever being redistricted from their founding in the 19th century to the present? Using digitized ward boundaries from Chicago, Milwaukee, and St Louis from their founding to the present, we discovered the importance of Historical Racial Regimes (HRR) for answering this question. Findings from St Louis supported past HRR research on the salience of slavery for explaining its communities that have been “untouched” by redistricting. In Chicago and Milwaukee, however, we found their historical racial regimes to be more oriented by settler colonialism, specifically through the ways these cities have sought to protect their former settlements. We document how the logics of settler colonialism have protected select communities in Chicago and Milwaukee over three periods: 1) settlement formation, 2) state law protection, and 3) litigation protection. We conclude by discussing the implications for the study of Historical Racial Regimes, as well as the literature on the racial politics of redistricting.