This volume describes the lasting effects of slavery on contemporary political attitudes in the American South. Despite dramatic social transformations in the U.S. during the last 150 years, the South has remained staunchly conservative. Southerners are more likely to support Republican candidates, gun rights, and the death penalty, and whites harbor higher levels of racial resentment than in other parts of the country. Why haven't these sentiments evolved? This title shows that the entrenched political and racial views of contemporary white southerners are a direct consequence of the region's slaveholding history, which continues to shape economic, political, and social spheres. Today, southern whites living in areas once reliant on slavery-compared to areas that weren't-are more racially hostile and less amenable to policies that promote black progress. This book demonstrates how social beliefs persist long after formal policies that created those beliefs have been eradicated.