Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE May 2014 Relocation & Realignment: How the Great Migration Changed the Face of the Democratic Party Keneshia Grant Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Grant, Keneshia, "Relocation & Realignment: How the Great Migration Changed the Face of the Democratic Party" (2014). Dissertations - ALL. 121. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/121 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract After a history of hostility toward Black people, what motivated the Democratic Party of the 1960s to change its position on civil rights? My dissertation examines one of the most significant developments in American political history—the shift of the U.S. political parties on racial issues. In Relocation and Realignment: How the Great Migration changed the face of the Democratic Party, I argue that increasing competition between the parties for the presidency and the mass movement of Black people out of the South coincided to drive the Democratic Party’s change on racial issues. Through examination of primary sources and a fresh perspective on existing research, I show that the Democratic Party changed their stance in an effort to secure support from Black voters in the North—who often constituted the balance of power (BOP) in important elections. Relocation and Realignment is an important contribution to the study of American politics for its attention to the political impact of the Great Migration and for its focus on Black voters before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Relocation and Realignment: How the Great Migration Changed the Face of the Democratic Party Keneshia Nicole Grant B.S. Florida A&M University, 2005 M.A.S.S. Florida A&M University, 2006 M.A. Syracuse University, 2009 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the Graduate School of Syracuse University May 2014 Copyright © Keneshia N. Grant 2014 All Rights Reserved Acknowledgments I was 22 years old, with a freshly minted Master of Public Administration, when Dr. Gary Paul offered me a job as a visiting assistant professor at Florida A&M University. Like many of my classmates, I was a first generation college graduate who had no idea what to do with a strong curiosity about politics and a desire to help others. I was certain I would be a lawyer until Dr. Paul challenged my thinking. His encouraging me to get a Ph.D. and giving me the opportunity to teach changed my life. I will always be grateful to him for that. I am also tremendously grateful to Kristi Andersen, who did not laugh when I walked into her office on the first day of graduate school with an excel document that outlined every detail of my time at Syracuse University. She has always showed confidence in my ability and encouraged me with a delicate balance of honesty and kindness. I could not have asked for a better advisor, and I will always be thankful for her commitment to my success. My gratitude is also extended to the members of my committee, who have taken time in various ways to guide me through this process. Also to Jeff Stonecash who, in the beginning of my graduate career, pushed me to do my work as well and as quickly as I could. Thanks to Dr. Stith and the Syracuse University MGSOP. This group demystified the Ph.D. process by telling me outright how to navigate graduate school. Undoubtedly, my graduate school experience would have been more difficult without this support. It took a village to make this Ph.D. The Syracuse Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated encouraged me to keep my commitment to service—even when I did not feel like it—and more importantly, exemplified sisterhood. The Bethany Baptist Church was a congregation of cheerleaders. Shakira at Starbucks made sure I was well caffeinated. Kerry and the Deltas (Jackie, Gina and Olivia), Fred, and Var kept me entertained me when I needed an iv outlet. I found a friend in my classmate, Rachel, who encouraged me to push beyond better to my best. WGDB (R. Jai, Andrew, Amber, Alvin, Virgil, and Shaun), made sure I had a life outside of Syracuse, and Kenyetta—the best sister-friend a girl could have—kept me grounded and connected to home. I would also like to thank the following institutional sources for their generous financial support: The American Political Science Association; The Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs; The Syracuse University Department of Political Science; The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Foundation; The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library Foundation; The Ronald E. McNair Graduate Fellowship Program; and The d. Kladney Fellowship Program. Last, but not least, I want to acknowledge and thank my Mama—who practiced spelling with me on the way home from work every night when I was a kid. The older I get, the more I realize how much she sheltered me from various storms. She never let on that the odds were against us. Instead, she worked day-in and day-out to make a better life for me. She taught me to be responsible but fearless, and she never doubted my ability to achieve my dreams. v Dedication Dedicated to Him, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. vi Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Illustrative Materials ..................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Models of Party Change .................................................................................... 20 Chapter Two: The National Democratic Situation, 1932-1964 .............................................. 29 Chapter Three: The Great Migration ....................................................................................... 41 Chapter Four: Local Balance of Power, 1948-1962 ................................................................. 51 Chapter Five: National Balance of Power, 1948-1964 ............................................................. 80 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 117 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 120 vii List of Illustrative Materials Figures Figure 0.1: U.S. Regions, as defined for this project .................................................................... 15 Figure 2.1: Distribution of the Popular Vote, by Percentage 1900-1960 ..................................... 29 Figure 2.2: How States Become Important ................................................................................... 30 Figure 2.3: Democratic Vote Percentage, by Region 1932-1956 ................................................. 37 Figure 2.4: Democratic Electoral College Votes, by Region 1932-1956 ..................................... 39 Figure 3.1: Streams of Movement in the Great Migration ............................................................ 46 Figure 4.1: Growth of the Estimated Black Voting Age Population by Thousands, 1940-1970 . 56 Figure 4.2: Black Voting Age Population as a Percentage of the Total Voting Age Population, 1940-1960. ............................................................................................................................ 57 Tables Table 2.1: Electoral College votes in Large EC States, 1932-1956.............................................. 31 Table 3.1: Increase in Percentage of Black Voters in Five States, 1930-1970 ............................. 43 Table 5.1: Balance of Power in Five States, 1948 ........................................................................ 93 Table 5.2: Balance of Power in Five States, 1952 ........................................................................ 99 Table 5.3: Balance of Power in Five States, 1960 ...................................................................... 106 viii Abbreviations ADA Americans for Democratic Action AFL American Federation of Labor BOP Balance of Power BVAP Black Voting Age Population CIO Congress of Industrial Organizations EC Electoral College FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt FEPC Fair Employment Practices Committee GOP Grand Old Party/ Republican Party JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People TVAP Total Voting Age Population VAP Voting Age Population ix Introduction If you talk to Black people about politics, many will say the Democratic Party has been supportive of the race for as long as they can remember. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) New Deal programs provided food, shelter and work for many Black people during the Great Depression. Harry Truman desegregated the military. John F. Kennedy (JFK) called Coretta