The Changing Shape of Urban Black Politics: 1960-1970

Abstract

The years between 1960 and 1970 constitute the critical period in the emergence of a mature urban black politics. Prior to this time, blacks in the American city were, through a variety of devices, excluded from full and equal participation in the urban political process. The developments of the 1960s represent the beginnings of the incorporation and institutionalization of blacks as constituent elements of the urban polity. This paper considers some of the changes of the last decade in city politics and black life that may account for this transformation. The historical roots of the transformation go back to the formation of the urban ghetto and beyond; however, herein our attention is limited to those factors that have come to the fore since the early 1960s.