Description
Book SynopsisBlack Ballots is an in-depth look at suffrage expansion in the South from World War II through the Johnson administration. Steven Lawson focuses on the Second Reconstructionthe struggle of blacks to gain political power in the South through the ballot-which both whites and black perceived to be a key element in the civil rights process. Examining the struggle of civil rights groups to enfranchise Negroes, Lawson also analyzes the responses of federal and local officials to those efforts. He describes the various techniquesfrom the white primary, the poll tax, literacy tests, and restrictive registration procedures through sheer intimidationthat were developed by white southerners to perpetuate disfranchisement and the sundry methods used by blacks and their white allies to challenge them.
Trade ReviewWith the publication of historian Steven Lawson's excellent study of the campaigns for voting rights in the South, we have welcome evidence that scholarship concerned with black activism and governmental policies in post-World War II America is alive and thriving. * Reviews in American History *
Thoroughly researched and skillfully argued, this volume is an important contribution to the study of the civil rights revolution. * The Historian *
As Lawson observes, only the foundations of change have been laid; the main struggle for reform lies ahead. This book demonstrates how it is possible to write excellent history which is also good political science. * Political Studies Review *
Through his impressive research in a host of important but relatively unexploited sources Lawson has filled in details, examined the role of civil rights organizations and pressure groups, and clarified the process through which civil rights legislation made its way through Congress. . . . Readers are likely to find this book a valuable summary of a subject that has not been dealt with so thoroughly before. * Journal of Southern History *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 The Strange Career of Black Disfranchisement Chapter 2 The Rise and Fall of the White Primary Chapter 3 The Poll Tax Must Go Chapter 4 The South Fights Back: Boswellianism and Bilboism Chapter 5 The Suffrage Crusade in the South: The Early Phase Chapter 6 Politics and the Origins of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Chapter 7 Politics and the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Chapter 8 Justice Delayed. . . Justice Denied Chapter 9 The Suffrage Crusade in the South: The Kennedy Phase Chapter 10 We Shall Overcome Chapter 11 Free at Last? Chapter 12 Notes Chapter 13 Bibliography Chapter 14 Index
