ABSTRACT
During the eras of access, machine rule, civil rights struggle, and racial politics, blacks in Memphis sought and achieved political emergence. During the era of racial politics, they elected a black mayor, a father and son to Congress, a majority black City Council and school board, and black County Commissioners. Also, most of the Democratic state legislators from the Shelby County area were African American as were the heads of the fire and police departments and public school system. With this black political ascendancy, the city of Memphis represented the ultimate case study that showed ways in which blacks in a traditional Southern city later dominated the local political structure. This chapter summarizes the black
political experience in Memphis in the context of larger issues in race and local electoral politics and address the issue of what else is left to be achieved.
