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The Politics of Black Empowerment The Transformation of Black Activism in Urban America James Jennings

The Politics of Black Empowerment uses the experiences of grassroots activists to develop various conceptualizations and explanations of Black political behavior today. James Jenning's utilitarian perspective enables him to emphasize the pragmatic component of Black political leadership acquiring urban power and the resistance of entrenched economic interests against such a development. He attempts to evaluate the impact of Blacks' new political incorporation status upon their electoral patterns sorting out the instances of failure to achieve sustained electoral politicization for large numbers of Blacks—especially the weak working-class and the poor. He links this failure partially with the rise of right-wing leadership under the Reagan administration, suggesting possible political alternatives to this setback in the quality of Black politics.

"James Jennings has produced a first-class study of the metamorphosis of the activistic axis in Black urban politics, shrewdly structuring the study in terms of transformation from activism for mobilization-politics to activism for governance-politics."—Martin Kilson, Harvard University

African American Life Series $34.95s cloth / ISBN 0-8143-2317-0 $19.95s paper / ISBN 0-8143-2318-9 240 pages 2001 (1992)