Four states where Black Americans can escape the delta blues

In recent years, social policy researchers such as Brookings Institution have chronicled the trend of Black Americans’ migration from declining northern cities to the South. Less understood, however, is the political effect of movement between the southern states. This year, as voters in Louisiana and Mississippi gear up for elections, it may be appropriate to consider an alternative strategy to the usual pattern of defeat.

The strategy encourages the migration of Blacks in the delta to the four emerging democracy states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. There is no doubt that people will continue to get by as unrepresented subjects in Mississippi and Louisiana, but to truly live well requires the ability to have a say in the state government. That ability is out of the question in the delta.

Critics may ask why a clustering of Blacks in the four states would turn out any better than a clustering in the cities, and it is a fair question. Understand that the resources and powers available to a state are vastly expanded in comparison to a city, which can be stifled by anti-city state legislatures and executives.

Blacks seeking to escape the lack of representation in the delta are in a position to accelerate a process of democracy in other parts of the South. Working in concert with people relocating from the North, they can leave states with few prospects for representation to those with a chance to tip the scale of justice — and to have influence in the 2024 presidential election.

Blues in the Bayou

Mississippi has been under Republican rule for more than a decade, with the GOP controlling the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general and both chambers of the state legislature. Elections this year will put the 10 state executive offices in play. All are in the hands of white Republicans with little to fear — a Black candidate for statewide office has not been elected in over 130 years.

Blacks comprise nearly 40 percent of the 3 million population but are excluded from state power in all substantial ways. It is a consequence of unified white opposition, election shenanigans, and the Supreme Court gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. There was a brief period of political ascendance after the passage of the act; that’s when Charles Evers, the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was elected mayor of Fayette in 1971.

Since then, Black political leaders have searched for ways to overcome entrenched white opposition. They have conducted get-out-the vote drives, run conservative candidates, focused on secondary state offices, joined the Republican Party, and employed other tactics to appeal to white voters. Little of it has been effective in countering barriers of race, wrote journalist Jimmie Gates in “Black political influence in Mississippi has slowed despite increase in elected officials.”

Unlike Mississippi, the state of Louisiana gives the illusion of equity with the Mardi Gras festival and conservative Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. As in Mississippi, Blacks are over 30 percent of a state population of 4.5 million, have a small talent pool of educated leaders, and encounter opposition from a monolithic white culture.

Louisiana has a divided state government with the two-term governor, supported by Black voters. However, the political reality is one of effective Republican rule for over a decade with control of the offices of governor (2008-2015), attorney general, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and both chambers of the state legislature.

This year, all of the major state executive offices are up for grabs, as well as secondary offices of treasurer and the commissioner of agriculture and forestry. Like Mississippi, a Black candidate for major statewide office has not been elected in many generations.

Cast into the political wilderness, the Black residents of Mississippi and Louisiana are mired in extreme poverty with few chances of improvement. Perhaps the most recent glaring symbol of its subjugation is the capital city of Jackson going without drinkable water for months on end.

Four democracy states 

For Black America to establish a degree of sustained statewide influence, it will require a targeted migration to the four democracy states in the South. The most viable states are in the mid-Atlantic region — foremost, Maryland and Georgia, which share the assets of more than 30 percent Black population, large pools of educated individuals, relatively low rates of poverty, and good political organizations.

Maryland is the jewel in the crown, with an effective political operation in Baltimore and the affluent suburbs. Some people may question if the reliably blue state today is in fact a southern state, despite its Census Bureau designation as such. Indeed, Maryland was a longtime slave state that hesitated to join the rebellion and was allowed to maintain slavery during the war. However, its reluctance to secede earned the reputation as the Free State — although it often failed to live up to the image until modern times.

Voters made history with the elections of Wes Moore as governor and Anthony Brown as attorney general last year. President Biden took notice with the announcement of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel project, an infrastructure contract to replace the aging Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, the largest rail bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor. It is expected to generate 30,000 jobs, most of which do not require a college degree, and will help Biden fulfill a promise to Black labor.

Georgia, of course, shocked the nation in 2020 with a mobilized Black turnout that spearheaded the election of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate and Biden to the White House. Last year, the coalition demonstrated the ability to replicate victory with Warnock’s re-election.

Maryland and Georgia are bookends for the two other states — Virginia and North Carolina. There, Blacks comprise over 20 percent of the populations and tend to punch above their political weight. In 1990, Virginia demonstrated the power of a state coalition with the election of Douglas Wilder as America’s first elected Black governor. Since then, the coalition has supported presidents, senators, governors, mayors, state legislators that promote its interests.

In North Carolina, the Black community has expanded its reach beyond the city of Charlotte to forge coalitions with statewide clout. In recent years, it has supported governors, mayors, judges, and state legislators. In 2022, Democrat Cheri Beasley came close to winning a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Some may question why South Carolina is left out of the mix; after all, the Black community shares favorable characteristics like the four democracy states, including Republican Sen. Tim Scott. And the Democratic Party selected it to hold the first presidential primary in 2024; nonetheless, the state’s conservative hegemony is largely unified in denying Blacks a seat at the table beyond a token number.

It’s not to say that everything in these states is hunky-dory; surely, there is a lot of work to be done to unravel the legacy of Jim Crow. But each of the four states would benefit from growing the base of Black voters; in particular, through the recruitment of professionals, managers, workers with trade skills, remote workers, college students, and pensioned retirees. These are people ready to vote and with skills to help manage the affairs of the state.

Black middle-class voters in Louisiana and Mississippi need not remain mired in political subjugation. There are better options for those interested in establishing places to rise for the community. Now is the time to consider strategic relocation to four democracy states to build a foundation for the future.

Roger House is an associate professor of American studies at Emerson College in Boston and author of “Blue Smoke: The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy.”