The Political Ways of America's Un- and Vulnerably Franchised

The Political Ways of America's Un- and Vulnerably-Franchised

My presentation will consider the ways in which politics has been conducted, historically, not only by those who have been excluded from the official arenas of politics, but also by those whose inclusion was always precarious owing to the rules of electoral politics. I thought I might range widely across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries suggesting how precarious the franchise was for a great many Americans.  My focus will be on African Americans and various European immigrants.