“In this fascinating and original study, Margaret Garb traces the rise of black politics in Chicago from its mid-nineteenth-century origins to the early twentieth century.  The book is a signal contribution to our understanding of the long civil rights movement on northern soil.”

Eric Foner | Columbia University

“By bringing post-bellum black Northern politics out from beneath the shadows of the South, Freedom’s Ballot manages to radically alter the common story of the era of Reconstruction and Jim Crow.   For Chicago’s African American leaders, what W.E.B. DuBois called that ‘magnificent drama’ of ex-slaves to bring democracy to America, took on a very different character.  As Margaret Garb powerfully demonstrates, uplift ideology and demands for inclusion took a backseat to more militant goals of political power and racial solidarity.   Anyone interested in how the Windy City became a national center of black political power must read this book.”

Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

“In a masterful work that reveals the beauty of the historian’s craft, Garb illuminates the ways in which politics and the political had multiple meanings for African Americans and their quest for freedom.”

Earl Lewis, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

“Garb skillfully traces changes in both the citywide political system and the black response to the emergence of machine politics. . . . Freedom’s Ballot is an important contribution to the growing body of literature on African American political development.”

Journal of American History