ABSTRACT
Immediately after the Protest Era of black politics, blacks got politically dressed up only to discover they had no place to go. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, blacks had opportunities to gain political power like they never had before. Taking advantage of the recently passed Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, they began registering and turning out to vote in large numbers. During this period, there were enormous increases in the number of black elected officials. The augmentation of blacks’ influence in the political system (especially at the local level) was eventually met by partisan adjustments and ideological shifts among whites. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, blacks’ political activism had begun to subside and the political influence as a group had began to level off. In the Socioeconomic Transition Era of black politics, blacks’ political influence rested more with subgroups than with the collectivity. There are three questions regarding blacks’ continuing struggle for political influence that this chapter ponders. First, what are the implications of blacks’ stabilized political activity and the changing dynamics of the black community on the group’s continuing struggle for political influence today? Second, what is the future for blacks as a political bloc in the Socioeconomic Transition Era? Finally, based on the political activity and behavior of blacks in the Socioeconomic Transition Era, what are the chances of blacks serving as a balance of power in the political system?
