Rights for a Season: the Politics of Race, Class, and Gender in Richmond, Virginia.

Rights for a Season: The Politics of Race, Class, and Gender in Richmond, Virginia. By Lewis A. Randolph and Gayle T. Tate. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2003. Pp. xxii, 345. $38.00, ISBN 1-57233-224-7.)

In Rights for a Season, political scientists Lewis A. Randolph and Gayle T. Tate attempt "a political science case study of (1) black political mobilization in Richmond, Virginia,... and (2) the dynamics of race, class, and gender and how these evolving variables affect urban and black politics in a medium-sized city" (p. 1). They are generally successful in providing a broad overview of this subject, but the historical documentation and analysis necessary to sustain their arguments are weak.

Following a lengthy introduction that reviews the literature on urban, black, and gender politics, Randolph and Tate describe the African American community in Richmond during slavery and the post-emancipation years. Because the treatment is superficial and the issues discussed are poorly related to their larger thesis, the authors would have been better advised to delete or compress these early chapters and concentrate on a more comprehensive survey of contemporary Richmond.

Their major focus is the mobilization of the black community from the years of quiet desperation under Democrat Harry F. Byrd's political machine through the civil rights movement to the achievement of a black majority on the city council in 1977. The Richmond Crusade for Voters (RCV), made up primarily of black middle-class male professionals, led the struggle for black political representation, which was hampered by white opposition and class and gender conflicts that eventually led to the "demise of the black majority" in 1982 (p. 258). Strangely, although blacks still held a majority on the council, the authors conclude that a biracial conservative coalition killed any hopes for instituting a progressive agenda in Richmond. Unfortunately, by ending their study in 1982, Randolph and Tate miss the many changes in city politics since--more African American women on the council, black city managers and police chiefs--that undermine their claim about the "demise of the black majority."

Clearly there were and are divisions within the African American community. Randolph and Tate emphasize the unsuccessful efforts of blue-collar activist Curtis J. Holt Sr. and the reelection defeat of feminist Willie Dell to buttress their argument about class and gender discrimination. They might have strengthened their case with an economic analysis of black Richmond, a thorough discussion of all the issues faced by the council, an examination of voting patterns across the city, not just in selected precincts, and more interviews with major players such as Henry L. Marsh and L. Douglas Wilder.

Finally, this work is marred by parsimonious editorial practices and confusing rhetoric. Footnotes without titles are imbedded in the text, and abbreviations are created to represent historical events such as the civil rights movement (CRM) and massive resistance (MR). The Richmond Crusade for Voters is said to be "similar to old political machines," but the following discussion demonstrates how dissimilar the RCV was to these machines (p. 145). RCV's research committee is said to be "exclusively male," but reference is immediately made to a woman who served on the committee (p. 159). Rights for a Season deals with important issues and presents some interesting information, but a more complete treatment of recent Richmond politics is still needed.

Hampden-Sydney College

RONALD L. HEINEMANN