ABSTRACT
This chapter considers social movement theory in a case study of black community mobilization at the local level. It explores some of the salient concepts of that literature to a specific set of conditions. The chapter focuses on an organization called the 1991 Sacramento Redistricting Project. It proposes the answer lies in factors: the link between institutionalization and racial or social memory; and the use of black narrative in black spaces to develop the content of racial memory and to direct the actions of institutions. The Redistricting Project's parent organization was formed in 1990 to bring some coherence to the programs of Sacramento's black organizations. In Sacramento almost all of the individuals who were involved in the 1981 redistricting effort had neither the inclination, the time, nor the ability to participate in the 1991 efforts. The purpose of the Summit on African-American Concerns was to bring some unity of approach to a whole host of problems confronting Sacramento's black population.
