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  • Proudly for Brooke - JREP - Revised submission (1)

    Rights statement: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-race-ethnicity-and-politics/article/proudly-for-brooke-raceconscious-campaigning-in-1960s-massachusetts/950DF359B6FF01C6847A89E5863822F7 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, 3(2), pp 261-292 2018, © 2018 Cambridge University Press.

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Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts

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Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts. / Johnson, Richard.
In: Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, Vol. 3, No. 2, 09.2018, p. 261-292.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Johnson, R 2018, 'Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts', Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 261-292. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2018.1

APA

Vancouver

Johnson R. Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 2018 Sept;3(2):261-292. Epub 2018 Mar 15. doi: 10.1017/rep.2018.1

Author

Johnson, Richard. / Proudly for Brooke : Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts. In: Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 2018 ; Vol. 3, No. 2. pp. 261-292.

Bibtex

@article{82c38bd68baa4532b3c2352d7623bd9f,
title = "Proudly for Brooke: Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts",
abstract = "Scholars have credited the victory of Edward Brooke, America's first popularly elected black U.S. senator, to a “deracialized” or “color-blind” election strategy in which both the candidate and the electorate ignored racial matters. This article revises this prevailing historical explanation of Brooke's election. Drawing from the historical-ideational paradigm of Desmond King and Rogers Smith, this paper argues that Brooke was much more of a “race-conscious” candidate than is generally remembered. Primary documents from the 1966 campaign reveal that Brooke spoke openly against racial inequality, argued in favor of racially targeted policies, and called for stronger racial equality legislation. In addition, this paper argues that Brooke's appeals were not targeted primarily to the state's small black population but to liberal whites. Far from ignoring race, internal campaign documents and interviews with campaign staff reveal that Brooke's campaign strategists sought to appeal to white desires to “do the right thing” by electing an African American candidate. Internal polling documents from the Brooke campaign and newspaper commentaries further demonstrate that a proportion of the white electorate cited Brooke's race as the reason for supporting his candidacy. This paper suggests that Brooke's election was extremely well timed—coming soon after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act but before the urban riots of the “long hot summer of 1967”, the King assassination riots, and anti-busing riots in Boston. The first half of Brooke's 1966 campaign slogan “Proudly for Brooke: A Creative Republican” signals the race-conscious dynamics of his candidacy.",
keywords = "race-conscious, color-blind, deracialization, racial campaign strategies, civil rights, black Republicans",
author = "Richard Johnson",
note = "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-race-ethnicity-and-politics/article/proudly-for-brooke-raceconscious-campaigning-in-1960s-massachusetts/950DF359B6FF01C6847A89E5863822F7 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, 3(2), pp 261-292 2018, {\textcopyright} 2018 Cambridge University Press.",
year = "2018",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1017/rep.2018.1",
language = "English",
volume = "3",
pages = "261--292",
journal = "Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics",
issn = "2056-6085",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Proudly for Brooke

T2 - Race-Conscious Campaigning in 1960s Massachusetts

AU - Johnson, Richard

N1 - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-race-ethnicity-and-politics/article/proudly-for-brooke-raceconscious-campaigning-in-1960s-massachusetts/950DF359B6FF01C6847A89E5863822F7 The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, 3(2), pp 261-292 2018, © 2018 Cambridge University Press.

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - Scholars have credited the victory of Edward Brooke, America's first popularly elected black U.S. senator, to a “deracialized” or “color-blind” election strategy in which both the candidate and the electorate ignored racial matters. This article revises this prevailing historical explanation of Brooke's election. Drawing from the historical-ideational paradigm of Desmond King and Rogers Smith, this paper argues that Brooke was much more of a “race-conscious” candidate than is generally remembered. Primary documents from the 1966 campaign reveal that Brooke spoke openly against racial inequality, argued in favor of racially targeted policies, and called for stronger racial equality legislation. In addition, this paper argues that Brooke's appeals were not targeted primarily to the state's small black population but to liberal whites. Far from ignoring race, internal campaign documents and interviews with campaign staff reveal that Brooke's campaign strategists sought to appeal to white desires to “do the right thing” by electing an African American candidate. Internal polling documents from the Brooke campaign and newspaper commentaries further demonstrate that a proportion of the white electorate cited Brooke's race as the reason for supporting his candidacy. This paper suggests that Brooke's election was extremely well timed—coming soon after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act but before the urban riots of the “long hot summer of 1967”, the King assassination riots, and anti-busing riots in Boston. The first half of Brooke's 1966 campaign slogan “Proudly for Brooke: A Creative Republican” signals the race-conscious dynamics of his candidacy.

AB - Scholars have credited the victory of Edward Brooke, America's first popularly elected black U.S. senator, to a “deracialized” or “color-blind” election strategy in which both the candidate and the electorate ignored racial matters. This article revises this prevailing historical explanation of Brooke's election. Drawing from the historical-ideational paradigm of Desmond King and Rogers Smith, this paper argues that Brooke was much more of a “race-conscious” candidate than is generally remembered. Primary documents from the 1966 campaign reveal that Brooke spoke openly against racial inequality, argued in favor of racially targeted policies, and called for stronger racial equality legislation. In addition, this paper argues that Brooke's appeals were not targeted primarily to the state's small black population but to liberal whites. Far from ignoring race, internal campaign documents and interviews with campaign staff reveal that Brooke's campaign strategists sought to appeal to white desires to “do the right thing” by electing an African American candidate. Internal polling documents from the Brooke campaign and newspaper commentaries further demonstrate that a proportion of the white electorate cited Brooke's race as the reason for supporting his candidacy. This paper suggests that Brooke's election was extremely well timed—coming soon after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act but before the urban riots of the “long hot summer of 1967”, the King assassination riots, and anti-busing riots in Boston. The first half of Brooke's 1966 campaign slogan “Proudly for Brooke: A Creative Republican” signals the race-conscious dynamics of his candidacy.

KW - race-conscious

KW - color-blind

KW - deracialization

KW - racial campaign strategies

KW - civil rights

KW - black Republicans

U2 - 10.1017/rep.2018.1

DO - 10.1017/rep.2018.1

M3 - Journal article

VL - 3

SP - 261

EP - 292

JO - Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

JF - Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

SN - 2056-6085

IS - 2

ER -