| Contents |
Introduction -- "Out in full force": Black participation in spectacular politics before disfranchisement, 1877-99 -- "A contest in music": Election-Day spectacles in the Central Georgia Temperance Campaigns, 1885-99 -- "A strictly social function": The contest of Black labor and Confederate memory at the 1903 UCV Reunion -- "Furious music": African Americans, political spectacles, and street theater in the post-disfranchisement South, 1909-32 -- "To do our bit for good government": W.C. Handy, E.H. Crump, and the 1909 Memphis mayoral election -- "I didn't really know how to show my opposition": Street theater in the twenty-first century. |
| Abstract |
"Mark A. Johnson examines three notable cases of Black participation in the spectacles of politics: the 1885-1898 local-option prohibition contests of Atlanta and Macon, Georgia; the United Confederate Veterans conflict with the Musicians' Union prior to the 1903 UCV Reunion in New Orleans; and the 1909 Memphis mayoral election featuring Edward Hull Crump and W. C. Handy. Through these case studies, Johnson explains how white politicians and Black performers wielded and manipulated racist stereotypes and Lost Cause mythology to achieve their respective goals. Ultimately, Johnson portrays the vibrant, exuberant political culture of the New South and the roles played by both Black and white southerners."--Publisher's description. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN | 9781496832832 |
| ISBN | 1496832833 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 9781496832825 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 1496832825 (hardcover) |
