Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 25, 2013

Last of nine parts. In the first eight articles in this series I discussed the long and shameful legacy of voter discrimination in Florida. Neither Democrats nor Republicans should have any pride in how they have treated the black electorate in the past 200 years. Democrats, who politically controlled Florida for about 140 of the […]

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 24, 2013

Eighth in a series. Republicans and blacks dominated politics in Florida for about 20 years immediately after the Civil War. The end of Reconstruction also brought an end to Republican dominance for the next 115 years. Even though the Democrats drew the election district lines in 1992, Republicans took control of the Florida Senate in […]

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 19, 2013

Fifth in a series The civil rights movement and the passage of federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act ended the major hurdles to black voting in Florida and the South. Black voter registration soared and, with the passage of time, hundreds of blacks in Florida would be elected to political office. The election […]

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 18, 2013

Fourth in a series. There is universal agreement among the scholars of Southern politics that the literacy test was the primary obstacle confronting blacks who desired to vote. Supposedly, all voters, black and white, had to pass a literacy test before earning the right to vote. Although equally applied to blacks and whites in theory, […]

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 16, 2013

Second of six parts. In the first part of this series, I wrote that the 15th Amendment said that Southern states could not deny the right to vote based on race, but that they used a variety of tactics to keep blacks from voting anyway. One of the major barriers to black voting in Florida […]

Darryl PaulsonSeptember 15, 2013

First of a six-part series about black voting in Florida. Blacks comprised almost half of Florida’s population at the end of the Civil War. Like other Southern states, most blacks in Florida were slaves and none had the right to vote. As a condition for rejoining the Union, Florida and the rest of the Confederate […]

Tag: black voter discrimination

Darryl Paulson: Black voter discrimination: What lies ahead?

Darryl Paulson: Black voter discrimination in Florida: The Republican Party

Darryl Paulson: Black voter discrimination in Florida: Vote dilution

Darryl Paulson: Black Voter Discrimination: The Literacy Test and Grandfather Clause

Darryl Paulson: Black voter discrimination in Florida: The white primary

Darryl Paulson: Black Voter Discrimination in Florida: Civil War to Reconstruction