Black Ballots is an in-depth look at suffrage expansion in the South from World War II through the Johnson administration. Steven Lawson focuses on the "Second Reconstruction"-the struggle of blacks to gain political power in the South through the ballot-which both whites and black perceived to be a key element in the civil rights process. Examining the struggle of civil rights groups to enfranchise Negroes, Lawson also analyzes the responses of federal and local officials to those efforts. He describes the various techniques-from the white primary, the poll tax, literacy tests, and restrictive registration procedures through sheer intimidation-that were developed by white southerners to perpetuate disfranchisement and the sundry methods used by blacks and their white allies to challenge them.
Chapter 1 The Strange Career of Black Disfranchisement Chapter 2 The Rise and Fall of the White Primary Chapter 3 The Poll Tax Must Go Chapter 4 The South Fights Back: Boswellianism and Bilboism Chapter 5 The Suffrage Crusade in the South: The Early Phase Chapter 6 Politics and the Origins of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Chapter 7 Politics and the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Chapter 8 Justice Delayed. . . Justice Denied Chapter 9 The Suffrage Crusade in the South: The Kennedy Phase Chapter 10 We Shall Overcome Chapter 11 Free at Last? Chapter 12 Notes Chapter 13 Bibliography Chapter 14 Index
