Malleable national collective memories among Black and White Americans.

Abstract

How do groups remember their shared past? Are there individual differences within a group? How easy is it to change collective memories? The present article addresses these questions by focusing on differences within national subgroups, exploring how national collective memories might differ for Black and White Americans, how individual differences and external influences might moderate or alter any differences, and the temporal extent of any changes that might occur due to external influences. Across four studies, participants were asked to identify the five "most important" events in U.S. history and then asked about their political ideology and racial and national identification, though not in every study. Although individual differences emerged, Black and White participants differed in the types of events they identified as important in U.S. history, with Black participants identifying more race-relevant events than White participants and White participants identifying more traditional founding events than Black participants. As to changes in collective memory, in response to a minimal identity salience manipulation, the murder of George Floyd, and July 4th celebrations, national collective memories evidenced malleability only after the murder of George Floyd. In this instance, the mention of race-relevant events increased, even as the frequency of mention of traditional founding events remained stable. The observed increase in race-relevant events was temporary, however. Findings are discussed in relation to contemporary discussions on collective memory, especially with respect to group differences, individual differences within groups, and mnemonic inertia. Public Significance StatementPublic discourse about the way U.S. history should be told, especially how it should incorporate the Black experience, often pays little attention to the collective memory Black and White Americans actually hold. The present study underscores differences in the ways Black and White participants remember U.S. history but also explores how these differences depend not just on race but also on how Black and White participants navigate what are often competing identities of being Black, White, or simply American. Whatever their content, presently held collective memories proved relatively resistant to change. In the present study, we found that emotionally charged events such as the murder of George Floyd elicited change, but the change proved temporary. The way American history is presently remembered and the stability of these representations needs to be acknowledged as the public considers what might be a better reckoning of the U.S. past.