The International Dimensions of Everyday Black Political Participation

Abstract

The extent to which everyday African American political participation operates across US borders is rarely examined. This article explores this phenomenon by asking if there is a relationship between the characteristics of black social movements outside the USA and how African American institutions encourage their constituencies inside the USA to participate politically. Through background research, the authors developed hypotheses about how independent variables relating to the ideology, tactics, and membership of the African independence movement relate to the dependent variable, participation encouragement, by African American institutions. In order to operationalize these measures, data were gathered through the African American Press Internationalism Study—a content analysis of 451 articles and editorials about the African independence movement that appeared in African American newspapers between 1957 and 1971.