This dissertation discusses the development of African American activism and political participation in Baltimore from 1920-1944 through different issue domains, and looks especially to when activists developed a complementary fit between their existing resources, their political environment, and their mode of mobilization. This project is motivated by some important unanswered questions in political science literature. First, several studies investigating black political attitudes and behavior begin with an analysis of black political behavior during or after the mainstream Civil Rights Movement. This literature does not offer a full picture of the nature of black political engagement prior to the big structural changes occurring during and after the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, and even less about the potential for local activism to set the stage for organizing work in later periods. Scholars in American Political Development (APD) have made great strides in explaining the institutional underpinnings of racial policy change, but do not reveal why black activists could not make larger gains without changes to structural conditions.

This project demonstrates how black activists made strategic attempts to position their expertise and skill set to exploit available openings in local politics. Additionally, it shows how black activists utilized different sets of organizing structures and that different modes of organizing were consequential to the tactics unleashed and the issues they fought for. This project also works to show that black activists amassed resources in intricate and innovative ways to bolster their political influence and strengthen their leverage with local policymakers. By turning to the local politics of blacks during this period, this project brings attention to the tactics and strategies that later set the groundwork for bigger battles during the Civil Rights Movement.