An Analysis of African American Voter Trends (1953-1961)
This scholarly journal by Jack Walker explores African American voting trends in Atlanta during desegregation. His data analysis spans from 1953 to 1961, and is used to refute previous claims that African Americans are less politically active than their white peers.
Ever since World War II, there has been a steady, yet uneven increase of black voters in the South. This is due to the discriminatory measures taken to stop blacks from voting in certain areas. Nonetheless, this was not the case in larger cities such as Atlanta. According to the data collected by Walker, African Americans began voting in large quantities since Chapman v. King, a federal court case that ruled the white primary unconstitutional (Lloyd). Due to this momentous decision, black voting power in Atlanta was like never before — voting in immense unity and percentages.
In 1958, the total number of black voters registered was approximately 27,432 (25.3% of the total electorate). Beginning in 1960, however, the total number black voters witnessed a large jump of nearly 7,000 more people (29.5% of the total electorate). Since then, the number of black voters in Atlanta has increased exponentially. During the 1961 election specifically, 80% of registered African Americans voted in their respective precincts, while only 69% upper income whites and 67% lower income whites voted in theirs.
All of these accomplishments were made possible through the togetherness of the African American community in Atlanta. During election cycles, many of these communities would organize demonstrations such as student sit-ins and dramatic campaigns in order to lead black voters to the polls (Walker 380). By doing this, they were able to overcome the adversity presented by segregation and other discriminatory measures which prevented them from freely participating in democracy.
Works Cited
Lloyd, Craig. "Primus E. King (1900-1986)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 17 July 2017. Web. 06 November 2018.
Walker, Jack. “Negro Voting in Atlanta: 1953-1961.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 24, no. 4, 1963, pp. 379–387. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/273379.