Juneteenth 2021: a data visualization of lynchings using R's ggplot2 package (CC116)

library(tidyverse)
library(glue)
library(ggtext)


lynchings_per_year <- read_csv("Weblist_IDs.csv") %>%
  rename_all(tolower) %>%
  filter(victimsrace == "Black") %>%
  count(year)

total_lynchings <- lynchings_per_year %>%
  summarize(N = sum(n)) %>%
  mutate(N = format(N, big.mark=",")) %>%
  pull(N)

peak_year <- lynchings_per_year %>%
  top_n(n, n=1) %>%
  pull(year)

year_range <- lynchings_per_year %>%
  summarize(early = min(year), late = max(year)) %>%
  mutate(range = glue("{early} and {late}")) %>%
  pull(range)

lynchings_per_year %>%
  ggplot(aes(x=year, y=n)) +
  geom_line() +
  labs(x="Year", y="Number of Lynchings",
       title=glue("Between {year_range} there were {total_lynchings} lynchings
                  with the peak occuring in {peak_year}"),
       caption = "Data provided by CSDE Lynchings Database") +
  theme_classic() +
  theme(plot.title = element_textbox_simple(size=18, face="bold",
                                            margin = margin(t=10, 0, b=15, 0)),
        plot.title.position = "plot",
        plot.caption.position = "plot",
        plot.caption = element_text(face="italic"))


ggsave("lynchings_per_year.tiff", width=5, height=5)

library(tidyverse)
library(glue)
library(ggtext)

state_lookup <- tibble(abb = state.abb,
       name = state.name)

lynchings_per_state_per_year <- read_csv("Weblist_IDs.csv") %>%
  rename_all(tolower) %>%
  filter(victimsrace == "Black") %>%
  count(year, lynchstate) %>%
  inner_join(., state_lookup, by=c("lynchstate" = "abb"))

lynchings_per_state <- lynchings_per_state_per_year %>%
  group_by(name) %>%
  summarize(N = sum(n)) %>%
  mutate(state = glue("{name} ({N})"))

peak_state <- lynchings_per_state %>%
  top_n(n=1, N) %>%
  pull(name)

year_range <- lynchings_per_state_per_year %>%
  summarize(early = min(year), late = max(year)) %>%
  mutate(range = glue("{early} and {late}")) %>%
  pull(range)

lynchings_per_state_per_year %>%
  inner_join(., lynchings_per_state, by="name") %>%
  mutate(state = fct_reorder(state, N)) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x=year, fill=n, y=state)) +
  geom_tile() +
  scale_fill_gradient(name = "Number of\nLynchings",
                      low="#FFFFFF", high = "#FF0000",
                      limits=c(0, NA)) +
  labs(x="Year", y=NULL,
       title=glue("Between {year_range} {peak_state} had the most lynchings"),
       caption = "Data provided by CSDE Lynchings Database") +
  theme_classic() +
  theme(axis.line = element_blank(),
        axis.ticks = element_blank(),
        plot.title = element_textbox_simple(size=18, face="bold",
                                          margin = margin(t=5, 0, b=10, 0)),
        plot.title.position = "plot",
        plot.caption.position = "plot",
        plot.caption = element_text(face="italic"))

ggsave("lynchings_per_state_per_year.tiff", width=5, height=5)