An analysis of personnel policies and city purchasing and contracting patterns in cities governed by black mayors suggests that the black mayors have adapted modern techniques of public administration to serve traditional ethnic income goals once pursued by urban machines. By guaranteeing the increased participation of blacks in municipal civil service jobs and in city purchasing, the black mayors are making city government a significant focus for the redistribution of income. The implications of this analysis, which examines data on the increase in black participation in these areas in six large cities, are (1) that the capture of city hall by blacks can have important economic consequences for the black community; (2) that the politics of ethnic (or racial) advancement once practiced by traditional machines is possible even under the rationalized techniques of modern public administration. (Author)