Black Power, White Resistance, and Public Policy: Political Power and Poverty Program Grants in Mississippi

Scholars have demonstrated that three types of black power tactics--electoral, protest, and violent--influence public policy. However, they have ignored both the relative efficacy of various black power tactics and the influence of the countermovement. This study examines the distribution of poverty program grants to Mississippi counties in 1968 and 1972 in order to shed light on three alternative explanations: (1) various black power tactics influence the distribution; (2) various white countermovement tactics influence the distribution; and (3) economic need influences the distribution. The regression equations indicate that electoral tactics are successful in influencing programs that are controllable by the elite. It, moreover, is apparent that a movement using electoral tactics needs a programmatic elite that is favorable to its cause.