In the Balance of Power
IN THE BALANCE OF POWER
Independent Black Politics and Third-Party Movements in the United States
Revised and Updated Edition
OMAR H. ALI
Foreword by Eric Foner
Afterword by Jacqueline Salit
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ali, Omar H. (Omar Hamid) author.
Title: In the balance of power : independent black politics and third-party movements in the United States / By Omar H. Ali ; Foreword by Eric Foner ; Afterword by Jacqueline Sallit.
Description: Revised and updated edition. | Athens : Ohio University Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Reveals the multiple independent political tactics and strategies that African Americans have used to expand democracy and uphold civil and political rights since the founding of the nation. This new edition of Ali’s groundbreaking narrative includes an epilogue by independent political analyst and leader Jacqueline Salit. New material addresses the historic presidencies of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, as well as the rising tide of independent and anti-party sentiments”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020020241 | ISBN 9780821424346 (paperback) | ISBN 9780821447260 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: African Americans--Politics and government. | Third parties (United States politics)--History. | United States--Race relations--Political aspects--History.
Classification: LCC E185.18 .A45 2020 | DDC 323.1196/073--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020020241
Para Diana, Pablo, y Samina & Hanes Walton, Jr.
Contents
Foreword by Eric Foner
one: Declarations of Independence
two: Abolitionism, the Liberty Party, and Free Soil
three: Republicans, Reconstruction, and Fusion
four: Black Populism and the “Negro Party”
five: Black Communists, Socialists, and Nationalists
six: Civil Rights, Black Power, and Independent Politics
seven: The Black and Independent Alliance in 2008
Afterword by Jacqueline Salit
Foreword
Although Americans habitually refer to our political structure as a two-party system, third parties and other independent political movements have been a persistent feature of our history. From the Workingmen’s parties of the late 1820s to the recent presidential candidacies of John Anderson (1980), Ross Perot (1992), and Ralph Nader (2000 and 2004), some Americans have always felt that the two major parties fail to reflect their interests and concerns. Third parties have forced into the public sphere issues that their larger counterparts sought to avoid, such as slavery before the Civil War and the plight of farmers in the era of Populism. Although only one third party, the Republican Party, in the 1850s, has actually risen to national power, many have influenced the course of American history by giving voice to otherwise silenced discontents.
Indeed, many ideas widely taken for granted and assumed to be timeless features of American culture originated with independent political movements, whether organized as political parties or taking other forms. The idea of freedom as a universal entitlement, for example, was developed by the abolitionists, who developed the idea of equal citizenship irrespective of race. The modern idea of privacy—the extension of individual rights into the most intimate areas of personal life—arose from the efforts of generations of feminists to secure for women control over their own persons. Without political mobilizations outside the two-party system, it is difficult to imagine the progress that has been made in the last half-century toward the goal of equal rights and opportunities for all Americans, regardless of
