This study reveals the lasting toll of racial violence on Black Americans’ longevity. It finds that Black babies whose mothers were pregnant during a local lynching lived about 3.7 months less as adults, on average. The analysis, based on census and death records, rules out other demographic or socioeconomic causes and finds no such effect for white infants or lynchings involving non-Black victims. These findings underscore how the trauma of systemic racism can embed itself across generations, affecting health long after the events occur. As modern racial violence becomes more visible through media, the research raises urgent questions about its ongoing and long-term health consequences.