ABSTRACT
Historians will record that November 2, 1976, was an important date in the history of Afro-American politics. James Carter, a southern peanut farmer and one-term governor from Georgia, was elected president of the United States by a margin of less than two million popular votes over his Republican opponent, President Gerald R. Ford. Despite early predictions from political analysts that the election would “hardly be a contest,” the electoral vote was quite close-297 to 241 votes. In at least 13 states, including Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Texas, the black vote proved to be the most decisive factor in providing Carter’s margin of victory. In Mississippi, for example, Carter received 147,540 votes from Blacks, enough support to create a slim statewide majority of 11,537 votes over Ford. The largest number of black voters in history came to the polls; had the black vote been excluded or as divided as the white electorate, Carter would have been soundly defeated. The political message was clear: Jimmy Carter became president largely on the votes of the most oppressed sector of the American population. Black elected officials, intellectuals, and religious leaders had convinced Blacks that Carter’s election was essential for their salvation.
