The Great Migration, northern cities & Democratic Party realignment, 1915-1965

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Keneshia Grant’s recently published book, The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century (Temple University Press 2020), is the focus of this Author Meets Critics panel. Grant’s book provocatively bridges several sub-fields in American politics: Race and Ethnic Politics, Urban Politics and American Political Development. The book itself sits squarely within the conference theme of “Democracy, Difference in Destabilization” by examining how the Great Migration was not simply a population shift but a nascent political revolution. Movement out of the South led to Black local political mobilization in city politics which in turn not only destabilized the Jim Crow party system, but also led to the democratization of the Second Reconstruction. The proposed panel draws on the perspectives of scholars from a variety of subfields to reflect on how this movement offers lessons for today’s politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 32: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Chair

• Kimberley S. Johnson New York University

Presenters

• Keneshia N. Grant Howard University

• Sekou Franklin Middle Tennessee State University

• Christina M. Greer Fordham University

• Shamira M. Gelbman Wabash College

• Eric Schickler University of California, Berkeley

• Sharon Denise Austin University of Florida