Juneteenth 2021: Using ggplot2 and R to create a map showing the history of lynchings (CC117)

June 18, 2021 • PD Schloss • 6 min read • •

Data

You can request the data I used in this episode from the CSDE Lynching Database.

Visuals

Code

This is the R script that I generated in this episode

library(tidyverse)
library(ggtext)

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

lynchings_per_state_county <- read_csv("Weblist_IDs.csv") %>%
  rename_all(tolower) %>%
  filter(victimsrace == "Black") %>%
  count(lynchstate, lynchcounty) %>%
  inner_join(., state_lookup, by=c("lynchstate" = "abb")) %>%
  mutate(county = tolower(lynchcounty),
         state = tolower(state)) %>%
  select(state, county, n) %>%
  mutate(county = str_replace_all(county, "\\.", ""),
    county = case_when(
      state == "arkansas" & county == "probably white" ~ "white",
      state == "florida" & county == "dade" ~ "miami-dade",
      state == "florida" & county == "desoto" ~ "de soto",
      state == "georgia" & county == "campbell" ~ "fulton",
      state == "georgia" & county =="dekalb" ~ "de kalb",
      state == "georgia" & county == "unidentified southwest georgia county" ~
        "decatur",
      state == "georgia" & county == "wilkerson" ~ "wilkinson",
      state == "louisiana" & county == "arcadia" ~ "bienville",
      state == "louisiana" & county == "desoto" ~ "de soto",
      state == "louisiana" & county == "la fourche" ~ "lafourche",
      state == "mississippi" & county == "desoto" ~ "de soto",
      state == "virginia" & county == "alexandria" ~ "richmond",
      state == "virginia" & county == "princess anne" ~ "virginia beach",
      state == "virginia" & county == "dinwiddlie" ~ "dinwiddie",
      state == "virginia" & county == "warwick" ~ "newport news",
      TRUE ~ county
      )
    )

state_county <- map_data("county") %>%
  select(region, subregion) %>%
  distinct()

anti_join(lynchings_per_state_county, state_county,
          by=c("county" = "subregion", "state" = "region"))

county_map <- lynchings_per_state_county %>%
  distinct(state) %>%
  inner_join(., map_data("county"), by=c("state" = "region"))

state_map <- lynchings_per_state_county %>%
  distinct(state) %>%
  inner_join(., map_data("state"), by=c("state" = "region"))


lynchings_map_data <- right_join(lynchings_per_state_county, county_map,
           by=c("state" = "state", "county" = "subregion"))


lynchings_map_data %>%
  mutate(n = if_else(is.na(n), 0L, n)) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x=long, y=lat, fill=n, group=group)) +
  geom_polygon(color="black", size=0.1) +
  geom_polygon(data=state_map, aes(x=long, y=lat, group=group),
               fill=NA, color="black", size=0.3) +
  scale_fill_gradient(name="Number of\nLynchings",
                      low="#FFFFFF", high = "#FF0000",
                      limits=c(0, NA)) +
  coord_quickmap() +
  labs(title="Lynchings of Black people were widespread throughout the US South between 1877 and 1950") +
  theme_void() +
  theme(
    plot.title = element_textbox_simple(face="bold", size=18,
                                        margin = margin(5, 0, 10, 5)),
    legend.position =c(0.3, 0.1),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
      )

ggsave("lynchings_map.tiff", height=5, width =4)

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