Black Ballots

<I>Black Ballots</I> is an in-depth look at suffrage expansion in the South from World War II through the Johnson administration. Steven Lawson focuses on the Second Reconstruction-the struggle of blacks to gain political power in the South through the ballot-which both whites and black perceived to be a key element in the civil rights process.<BR />Examining the struggle of civil rights groups to enfranchise Negroes Lawson also analyzes the responses of federal and local officials to those efforts. He describes the various techniques-from the white primary the poll tax literacy tests and restrictive registration procedures through sheer intimidation-that were developed by white southerners to perpetuate disfranchisement and the sundry methods used by blacks and their white allies to challenge them.