The Transformation of Plantation Politics explores the effects of black political exclusion, the sharecropping system, and white resistance on the Mississippi Delta’s current economic and political situation. Sharon D. Wright Austin’s extensive interviews with residents of the region shed light on the transformations and legacies of the Delta’s political and economic institutions. While African Americans now hold most of the major political offices in the region and are no longer formally excluded from political participation, educational opportunities, or lucrative jobs, Wright Austin shows that white wealth and black poverty continue to be the norm partly because of the deeply entrenched legacies of the Delta’s history. Contributing to a greater theoretical understanding of black political efforts, this book demonstrates a need for a strong level of black social capital, intergroup capital, financial capital, political capital, and a human capital of educated and skilled workers.
Author(s): Sharon D. Wright Austin
Series: SUNY Series in African American Studies
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 247
The Transformation of Plantation Politics......Page 2
CONTENTS......Page 8
ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 10
FOREWORD......Page 12
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 16
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 18
PART ONE: THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK......Page 20
1. THE INFLUENCE OF LOCAL ELITES IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA......Page 22
PART TWO: THE PLANTATION POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CULTURE......Page 42
2. THE “COTTON-OBSESSED, NEGRO-OBSESSED” DELTA PLANTATION ECONOMY......Page 44
3. BLACK MOBILIZATION AND ELITE RESISTANCE DURING THE HEIGHTOF TRADITIONALISTIC PLANTATION POLITICAL RULE......Page 60
PART THREE: THE TRANSFORMATION AND LEGACIES OF THE PLANTATION CULTURE......Page 78
4. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE DELTA’S ECONOMY ?LEGALIZED GAMING, ECONOMIC CHANGE,AND THE PERSISTENCE OF BLACK CONCENTRATED POVERTY......Page 80
5. THE TRANSFORMATION OF DELTA PLANTATION POLITICS......Page 114
6. BUILDING BLACK AND INTERGROUP SOCIAL CAPITAL TIES IN THE DELTA......Page 152
PART FOUR: LESSONS LEARNED......Page 186
7. CONCENTRATED POVERTY,POLITICAL POWER, AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA......Page 188
NOTES......Page 196
APPENDIX A......Page 226
APPENDIX B......Page 230
APPENDIX C......Page 232
APPENDIX D......Page 234
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 236
B......Page 254
C......Page 255
D......Page 256
G......Page 257
J......Page 258
M......Page 259
P......Page 261
R......Page 262
S......Page 263
T......Page 264
W......Page 265
Z......Page 266
