The two reconstructions : the struggle for Black enfranchisement / Richard M. Valelly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Valelly, Richard M.

Series:

American politics and political economy.

American politics and political economy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Voting Rights Act of 1965.

United States.

African Americans--Suffrage--History.

African Americans.

African Americans--History--1863-1877.

African Americans--History--1877-1964.

African Americans--Politics and government.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Political parties--United States--History.

Political parties.

Election law--United States--History.

Election law.

United States--Politics and government--1865-1877.

United States--Politics and government--1945-1989.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (348 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Winner of the 2005 J. David Greenstone Book Award from the Politics and History section of the American Political Science Association. Winner of the 2005 Ralph J. Bunche Award of the American Political Science Association Winner of the 2005 V.O. Key, Jr. Award of the Southern Political Science Association The Reconstruction era marked a huge political leap for African Americans, who rapidly went from the status of slaves to voters and officeholders. Yet this hard-won progress lasted only a few decades. Ultimately a "second reconstruction"-associated with the civil rights movement and the Voting Rights Act-became necessary. How did the first reconstruction fail so utterly, setting the stage for the complete disenfranchisement of Southern black voters, and why did the second succeed? These are among the questions Richard M. Valelly answers in this fascinating history. The fate of black enfranchisement, he argues, has been closely intertwined with the strengths and constraints of our political institutions. Valelly shows how effective biracial coalitions have been the key to success and incisively traces how and why political parties and the national courts either rewarded or discouraged the formation of coalitions. Revamping our understanding of American race relations, The Two Reconstructions brilliantly explains a puzzle that lies at the heart of America's development as a political democracy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter One. The Strange Career of African American Voting and Office-Holding

Chapter Two. Forging the Coalition of 1867-1868

Chapter Three. Incomplete Institutionalization

Chapter Four. Party-Building during the First Reconstruction

Chapter Five. The Limits of Jurisprudence-Building

Chapter Six. The Vortex of Racial Disenfranchisement

Chapter Seven. Heralding the Second Reconstruction: The Coalition of 1948

Chapter Eight. The Coalition of 1961-1965

Chapter Nine. How the Second Reconstruction Stabilized

Chapter Ten. Institutions and Enfranchisement

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-311) and index.

ISBN:

9786612537998

9781282537996

1282537997

9780226845272

0226845273

OCLC:

593295833