ABSTRACT
The world took notice of the November 4, 2008 election of Illinois Senator Barack Obama as America's first Black president. Many believe that Barack Obama success was based on his ability to mount a deracialized campaign for president. A deracialized campaign is one that avoids racial issues and specific appeals to Black voters. The demand for Black power grew out of Atlanta Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee SNCC activists who began to see that Whites would not support Black candidates, and they needed to mobilize Blacks on the basis of a new consciousness that could start a new movement. The internal status of Blacks had powerfully changed with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Jesse Jackson profited enormously from the Black churches that took up the call to mobilize Black voters. The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan also took interest in the Jackson campaigns, as a key element in energizing the base of Black voters.
