This first comprehensive comparative study of Black politics focuses on American and British settings--Boston and Liverpool. The author argues that Black communities on both sides of the Atlantic face a host of social, economic, and political constraints produced by hierarchical racial systems that promote White dominance and Black subordination.

Built on a strong historical foundation and on interviews with over 150 political activists, academicians, politicians, and public administrators, this study examines some of the most important issues in the field of urban politics: the mobilization of bias in the political system, race and class constraints on the exercise of political influence, the impact of racial and political ideologies on the external policy environment, dilemmas associated with the mobilization of minority leadership, Black electoral strategies and political participation, the social consequences of urban regeneration, urban riots, school desegregation, the development of effective Black political resources, and conflict and cooperation in the internal politics of the Black community.