ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the candidacy of a series of black presidential candidates that emerged from the civil rights and black power movements in the late 1960s and then reappeared in 2004 and 2008 to better understand the transformation of race issues into political party politics. The individuals discussed here, principally Martin Luther King, Jr., but also Eldridge Cleaver, Dick Gregory, Julian Bond, Ronald Daniels, Al Sharpton, and Elaine Brown, each made largely symbolic bids for the presidency. Though these candidates acted more on principle than calculated political decision (that is-to win the election), they serve to illustrate how race activists started to channel energies away from the civil rights and black power movements and attempt to leverage their celebrity power into successful political careers.
