In late nineteenth-century Boston, battles over black party loyalty
were fights over the place of African Americans in the
post–Civil War nation. In his fresh in-depth study of black
partisanship and politics, Millington W. Bergeson-Lockwood
demonstrates that party politics became the terrain upon which
black Bostonians tested the promise of equality in America's
democracy. Most African Americans remained loyal Republicans, but
Race Over Party highlights the actions and aspirations of a
cadre of those who argued that the GOP took black votes for granted
and offered little meaningful reward for black support. These
activists branded themselves "independents," forging new alliances
and advocating support of whichever candidate would support black
freedom regardless of party.
By the end of the century, however, it became clear that partisan
politics offered little hope for the protection of black rights and
lives in the face of white supremacy and racial violence. Even so,
Bergeson-Lockwood shows how black Bostonians' faith in
self-reliance, political autonomy, and dedicated organizing
inspired future generations of activists who would carry these
legacies into the foundation of the twentieth-century civil rights
movement.