The Price of the Ticket

The historical significance of Barack Obama's triumph in the presidential election of 2008 scarcely requires comment. Yet it contains an irony: he won a victory as an African American only by denying that he should discuss issues that target the concerns of African Americans. Obama's very success, writes Fredrick Harris, exacted a heavy cost on black politics.

In The Price of the Ticket, Harris puts Obama's career in the context of decades of black activism, showing how his election undermined the very movement that made it possible. The path to his presidency began just before passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when black leaders began to discuss strategies to make the most of their new access to the ballot. Some argued that black voters should organize into a cohesive, independent bloc to promote both targeted and universal polices; others urged a more race-neutral approach, working together with other racial minorities as well as like-minded whites. This has been the fundamental divide within black politics ever since. At first, the gap did not seem serious. But the post-civil-rights era has accelerated a shift towards race-neutral politics. Obama made a point of distancing himself from older race-conscious black leaders, such as Jesse Jackson- and leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus-even though, as Harris shows, he owes much to Jackson's earlier campaigns for the White House. Unquestionably Obama's approach won support among whites, but Harris finds the results troublesome. The social problems targeted by an earlier generation of black politicians--racial disparities in income and education, stratospheric incarceration and unemployment rates--all persist, yet Obama's election, ironically, marginalized those issues, keeping them off the political agenda. Meanwhile, the civil-rights movement's militancy to attack the vestiges of racial inequality is fading.

Written by one of America's leading scholars of race and politics, The Price of the Ticket will reshape our understanding of the rise of Barack Obama and the decline of a politics dedicated to challenging racial inequality head on.


Harris is a vivid storyteller, bringing to life the men and women responsible for the rise of black politics in the 20th century. He doesn't shy away from juicy foibles of character, although his focus is on ideological conflict . . . This is an enlightening, readable, important, and deeply worrying book. --Publishers Weekly

The Price of the Ticket is a bold intervention in contemporary American politics. Harris provides evidence for our intuitions: that, even with an African American president (perhaps because of that fact) black folk languish in the shadows of 21st century America. With his use of history and his courage to look the facts squarely in the face, Harris has offered us a wake-up call. Of course, the question is will we listen and act. -- Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.,
William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Princeton University

With its expert attention to the intersections of black politics and history, and the workings of American democracy, The Price of the Ticket will quickly become the gold standard for studies of the Obama presidency through the lens of race. Fredrick Harris has produced the book for those looking for a sober, intelligent, and informed, analysis of the racial implications of the current regime. -- Richard Iton, Professor of African American Studies, Northwestern University and author of In Search of the Black Fantastic

The Price of the Ticket is an insightful, probing look at the Obama Presidency and Race. Harris deftly shows that while the election of the first Black President was a watershed moment for America, that same moment marked the end of political coalitions and grass roots activism within the African American community. The price of the ticket has been a hefty one indeed, and Fred Harris deftly shows just how much the ticket President Obama cashed has cost Black America. -- Anthea Butler, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Graduate Chair of Religion, The University of Pennsylvania