ABSTRACT
In 1986 and again in the fall of 1988, portions of Boston's electorate were asked to vote on a referendum proposing municipal incorporation of the city's black neighborhoods into a new entity called Mandela. The Mandela Referendum was a radical, "urban nationalist" solution to Boston's longstanding racial problems. The fight over the Mandela initiative is interesting because it raises a number of questions about the state and concerns of black urban politics in the United States. Community debate made it clear that residents in the proposed Mandela area were acutely aware of the economic dependence of both the neighborhoods of Greater Roxbury and black business on downtown growth and the city government. While the Ray Flynn administration focused on defeating the incorporation movement with questions about the budget and business climate, opposition in the black community posed larger questions about integration and nationalism.
