For more than 15 years, the Ford Foundation has supported a substantial program to expand opportunity for black Americans, and more recently, for America's other racial minorities and for women. This working paper summarizes the Foundation's past efforts and describes new initiatives being taken on behalf of these minorities, particularly blacks.…

Examines the change in status of African Americans in the American collective identity before and after the civil rights movement in the 1960s in terms of exclusion and inclusion. From the 1970s and onward, a gradual process of inclusion in terms of symbolic indicators (textbooks, history books, stamps, holidays) can be observed. (MMU)

In a two year period the Congress enacted a series of laws which had a profound effect on the Negro revolution. Discussed in this document are the cases which were brought to the Supreme Court to either challenge the constitutionality of these laws or to appeal for reversal of lower court decisions on the basis of the laws. Cited are cases based…

Analyzes the impact of the Voting Rights Act on black voter registration in Mississippi. Concludes that the future of black politics is highly uncertain in Mississippi. If the movement on the part of whites to disenfranchise blacks succeeds, and intimidation at the polls continues, advances made in the early 1970s could be seriously undermined.…

Examined differences in amount of Black representation on Southern school boards when one or more objections to electoral district changes have been filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Section Five of the Voting Rights Act. Found that demographic and social data do not explain DOJ objections filed against the boards. (CJM)

Reviews history of voting rights for Indians and discusses a 1986 decision calling for election reform in Big Horn County, Montana, to eliminate violations of the voting rights of the county's Indian citizens. Notes that positive effects--such as election of the county's first Indian commissioner--co-exist with enduring anti-Indian sentiment. (JHZ)

An analysis of Census Bureau data on registration and voting by black citizens over the past two decades shows the positive influence of the 1965 Voting Rights Act on electoral participation. After the passage of the act, there was more than a 50% increase in the number of black registered voters. Of black and white citizens participating in the…