Louisiana: Difference between revisions

Despite this, gradually black voter registration and turnout increased to 20% and more, and it was 32% by 1964, when the first national civil rights legislation of the era was passed.<ref>[http://www.naacpldf.org/content/pdf/reauthorization/Louisiana_VRA_Report.pdf Debo P. Adegbile, "Voting Rights in Louisiana: 1982–2006", March 2006, p. 7] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626001257/http://www.naacpldf.org/content/pdf/reauthorization/Louisiana_VRA_Report.pdf |date=June 26, 2008 }}, accessed March 19, 2008</ref> The percentage of black voters ranged widely in the state during these years, from 93.8% in [[Evangeline Parish]] to 1.7% in [[Tensas Parish]], for instance, where there were intense white efforts to suppress the vote in the black-majority parish.<ref name="thernstrom">[http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.23861/pub_detail.asp Edward Blum and Abigail Thernstrom, "Executive Summary"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417211312/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.23861/pub_detail.asp |date=April 17, 2009 }}, ''Bullock-Gaddie Expert Report on Louisiana'', February 10, 2006, p.1, American Enterprise Institute, accessed March 19, 2008</ref>

By 1960 the proportion of African Americans in Louisiana had dropped to 32%. The 1,039,207 black citizens were still suppressed by segregation and disfranchisement.<ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/state.php Historical Census Browser, 1960 US Census, University of Virginia], accessed March 15, 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823030234/http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/state.php |date=August 23, 2007 }}</ref> African Americans continued to suffer disproportionate discriminatory application of the state's voter registration rules. Because of better opportunities elsewhere, from 1965 to 1970, blacks continued to migrate out of Louisiana, for a net loss of more than 37,000 people. Based on official census figures, the African American population in 1970 stood at 1,085,109, a net gain of more than 46,000 people compared to 1960. During the latter period, some people began to migrate to cities of the [[New South]] for opportunities.<ref>[http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2004/05demographics_frey.aspx William H. Frey, "The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000"; May 2004, p. 3, The Brookings Institution] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118184428/http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2004/05demographics_frey.aspx |date=January 18, 2012 }}, accessed March 19, 2008</ref> Since that period, blacks entered the political system and began to be elected to office, as well as having other opportunities.