The Great Migration and the Democratic Party

Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century

By: Keneshia N. Grant

Narrated by: Janice Acevedo

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Where Black people live has long been an important determinant of their ability to participate in political processes. The Great Migration significantly changed the way Democratic Party elites interacted with Black communities in northern cities of Detroit, New York, and Chicago. Many White Democratic politicians came to believe the growing pool of Black voters could help them reach their electoral goals - and these politicians often changed their campaign strategies and positions to secure Black support. Furthermore, Black migrants were able to participate in politics because there were fewer barriers to Black political participations outside the South.

The Great Migration and the Democratic Party frames the Great Migration as an important economic and social event that also had serious political consequences. Keneshia Grant created one of the first listings of Black elected officials that classifies them based on their status as participants in the Great Migration. She also describes some of the policy/political concerns of the migrants. The Great Migration and the Democratic Party lays the groundwork for ways of thinking about the contemporary impact of Black migration on American politics.

The book is published by Temple University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

"An impressive work of political scholarship...a clear and systematic breakdown of the Great Migration and its consequences." (Kimberley Johnson, author of Reforming Jim Crow)

"Goes where few scholars have gone before...paints a vivid portrait of the political agency of Black migrants from the South...." (Marion Orr, Brown University)

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