Black Legislators Research Articles

African‐American Committee Chairs in U.S. State Legislatures*

Objective. In this article, we explore whether African‐American state legislators have been able to translate election to office into positions of power, particularly as committee chairs.Methods. We cull data from all state legislative chambers that contained a black legislator during two time periods, 1989 and 1999. In doing so, we compare the observed numbers of African‐American chairs with their expected numbers. We also examine each state's percentage of black chairs using multiple regression to determine what factors—political, partisan, institutional, cultural—influence the selection of black committee chairs.Results. Overall, our descriptive analysis reveals that blacks are underrepresented as chairs. They are not, however, significantly underrepresented as chairs of the most important committees and they are generally overrepresented as chairs of committees with jurisdiction over social services. Our multivariate analyses show that the prevalence of black chairs is driven primarily by factors related to partisan control of legislative chambers and size of the black legislative delegation, and that these dynamics have changed over time.Conclusion. Although the increase in African‐American state legislators has led to an increase in substantive leadership roles, these positions have been limited almost entirely to chambers where the black caucus is a critical element of a Democratic majority.

Devolution and black state legislators: challenges and choices in the twenty-first century

Devolution and black state legislators: challenges and choices in the twenty-first century

The Conditional Effects of Minority Descriptive Representation: Black Legislators and Policy Influence in the American States

Despite a substantial increase in the number of racial and ethnic minority lawmakers across the United States, scholars have been unable to demonstrate that diversification of representative bodies increases minority group influence over policy decisions outside of small local governing boards. These null findings, however, are primarily due to underspecified empirical designs that do not account for the conditioning effects of racialized political contexts and majority party coalition membership. Using state-level data on welfare benefit levels and a survey of black state legislators, this study shows that black descriptive representation exerts policy influence outside of local governing bodies, but that a highly racialized political context and party control condition the nature and degree of policy influence.

Disentangling Constituency and Legislator Effects in Legislative Representation: Black Legislators or Black Districts?*

Objective. Does the race of a legislator or does the black population of a district best predict legislative roll‐call voting in the interests of African Americans? Due to methodological limitations, no prior study has found that both the race of the legislator and the black district population are significant predictors of congressional roll‐call voting. Drawing on post Shaw v. Reno/Miller v. Johnson congressional districts (with greater data variance), I examine the effect of these two racial representation variables on roll‐call voting in the 104th–106th Congresses.Methods. Linear regression with random effects is employed in two statistical models.Results. Even when the black district population and party are considered, the presence of an African‐American legislator leads to greater substantive representation of black constituents.Conclusion. Districting plans that maximize the election of black legislators and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of liberal voting in Congress, while districting plans that maximize black district populations and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of civil rights voting records in Congress.

The Effect of Legislative Diversity on Agenda Setting

I examine the relationship between increasing gender and racial diversity within legislatures and agenda setting and find important differences within and across minority groups (i.e., Blacks and women). Increasing gender diversity among Democrats is associated with an overall increase in the number of women’s interests measures introduced; the opposite effect is observed for Republicans. Increasing racial diversity among Democrats is associated with a transference phenomenon in which White legislators introduce fewer Black interest measures, and Black legislators share the role of bringing Black interests to the agenda. Moreover, evidence exists that increasing racial diversity among Democrats is associated with a higher number of bills sponsored by Republicans that are contrary to Black interests and with fewer such bills sponsored by Democrats. I conclude that although increasing diversity can be accompanied by an increased attention to group interests, it is important to take into account partisan differences and differences between minority groups.

A Voice for Black Interests: Congressional Black Caucus Cohesion and Bill Cosponsorship

This study enhances our understanding of the vexing dilemma (i.e., the crosspressures emanating from individual goals and collective aspirations) confronting black legislators. Extant research based on roll call votes or on interest group scores that are also based on roll call votes is limited in what it can tell us about African-American representation in Congress. By examining African-American representatives' cosponsorship of legislation, this study uses a more accurate measure of members' legislative behavior and thus overcomes the "censored sample problem" associated with roll call data. Bill cosponsorship is a good indicator of a representative's intensity of commitment to constituent interests. We examine public bills cosponsored by African-American representatives from 1971 through 1993. The analysis finds that the cohesiveness of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) transcends policy arenas, notwithstanding higher rates of cosponsorship on social issues, and that the number of bills cosponsored by the CBC is noticeably higher after 1982. In addition, analysis suggests that CBC members, just like all members of Congress, respond to the structure that governs the House and the political forces that shape their electoral fortunes.

Race, Issue Heterogeneity and Public Policy: The Republican Revolution in the 104th US Congress and the Representation of African-American Policy Interests

Does the voting behaviour of African-American legislators differ significantly from their white colleagues on legislative issues of importance to the black community? This question is important for two reasons. First, the underlying premise behind creating more majority-black legislative districts is that black legislators do a better job of representing the policy interests of black constituents than do white lawmakers. Charles Cameron, David Epstein and Sharyn O'Halloran, ‘Do Majority-Minority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress?’ American Political Science Review , 90 (1996), 794–812; Richard L. Hall and Colleen Heflin, ‘The Importance of Color in Congress: Members and the Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the US House’ (unpublished paper, University of Michigan, 1994); David I. Lublin, The Paradox of Minority Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997); Kenny J. Whitby, The Color of Representation: Congressional Behavior and Black Interests (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997). If this assumption is incorrect, then as one scholar notes, efforts to advance the substantive interests of African Americans through racial redistricting ‘would appear badly misdirected’ Richard L. Hall, Participation in Congress (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996), p. 191. Even if the assumption is correct, the question also arises as to whether the importance associated with race is altered when it comes to specific types of legislative issues. Perhaps race matters not only for the policy representation of black interests, but also for whether or not the proposed legislation is disproportionately (dis)advantageous for African Americans compared to the general population.

African American Legislative Politics in Virginia

Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the number of African Americans serving in state legislatures throughout the nation dramatically increased from a mere 64 to 406 in 1988 (Joint Center for Political Studies, 1988). The emergence of a Black presence in the state legislative process provides an opportunity for the systematic advancement of African American political and socioeconomic interests. The racially based caucus has been an important mechanism in the evolution of Black legislative participation both at the national and state levels (Barnett, 1975; Colston, 1972). State-level legislative Black caucuses were established as early as the mid-1960s. The formation of the Missouri Black Legislative Caucus in 1966 was followed by the establishment of the Maryland Black Caucus in 1969. The vast majority of the formal Black legislative subgroups were formed between the years 1975 and 1980 (Miller, 1990). Formally constituted in 1988, the Virginia Black Legislative Caucus (VBLC) lagged behind the nationwide development of racial legislative subgroups. Its creation signaled the genesis of institutionalized Black legislative participation in the commonwealth of Virginia. This analysis seeks to examine the origin, nature, and impact of Black legislative politics in Virginia from 1970 to 1988. We focus specifically on the following three salient dimensions of legislative behavior: (a) the social background and political attributes of Virginia's Black state legislators, (b) the institutionalization of the Black presence in the state's legislative process, and (c) the charac-

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus

Georgia's Black legislators have always viewed their role as representatives for and articulators of the needs, interests, goals, and aspirations of the state's Black citizens. To secure maximum outputs from the political process that are beneficial to its African American constituency is what they have striven to achieve individually and collectively since the first Black man was elected to the Georgia General Assembly during the Reconstruction era. These 19th-century Black legislators were confronted by hostility from the White executive and legislative leaders of Georgia who questioned their right to be seated. In September 1868, Bishop Henry McNeil Turner led 33 Black elected legislators who attempted to

Black Legislative Politics in Mississippi

In the words of the old Negro preacher, We ain't where we ought to be, we ain't where we wanna be, but thank God we ain't where we used to be. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 dramatically increased the number of Black legislators in the state of Mississippi. Prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, African Americans had not served in the Mississippi state legislature since 1896. However, by 1988, 22 African Americans gained seats in the state legislature. In this descriptive analysis, the evolution, nature of the membership, and substantive impact of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus are assessed. Minority voting research has been categorized as occurring in four generations (Davidson & Grofman, 1994). According to Davidson and Grofman (1994), first generation research questions evaluate minority enfranchisement. Second generation questions are concerned with vote dilution and the election of minority candidates. Furthermore, the authors introduced third and fourth generation questions that address the substantive gains made by African American elected officials.' The research at hand places focus on third and fourth generation research questions. The study proceeds with a historical overview of the election of Black legislators in the state of Mississippi. Secondly, a synopsis of the state's legislative process and the evolution of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus are given. Thirdly, the social background

The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, 1970 to 1988

V. 0. Key observed that the legislature in South Carolina gives direction, cohesion, and continuity to the politics of the state (Key, 1949, p. 2). The South Carolina legislature, similar to legislatures throughout the South, was a bastion of prejudice and reactionary social policy (Willingham, 1985, p. 3). It was both a product and vehicle of the state's racist and undemocratic social order. The social order was characterized by a political system in which race determined the administration and distribution of public goods and services that affected the quality of everyday life. African Americans were excluded from public administration and the decision-making process. Public officials extracted revenue from the Black community without providing that community with public goods and services. The political system reinforced the exploitation in the workplace (Reed, 1979). Thus, the election of African Americans to the South Carolina legislature in the 1970s represented a significant departure from the state's political history. Seated in a powerful political institution from the state, Black legislators could now challenge the traditional conservative and anti-Black orientation of the general assembly. This study focuses on the issue of Black legislators' responsiveness to the Black community of South Carolina. As Michael B. Preston asserted, adequate representation of Black demands as well as the potential that Black interests may prevail over conflicting White preferences require that there be Black officeholders to translate these demands into policy (Preston, 1974, p. 198).

Gender and race in the state house: The legislative experience

Women and minorities are now an integral part of state legislatures throughout the country. The results from surveying a nationwide sample of 230 state legislators show that women and black legislators differ from their male and white colleagues in their perceptions of the legislative experience. Women and blacks believe they must pay close attention to women's and minority concerns while at the same time demonstrating policy breadth. Black women legislators are especially keen to the roles of both women and minorities. White male legislators see little difference between their own experiences and those of their female and minority colleagues.

Legislative Life in the 1990s: A Comparison of Black and White State Legislators

Although the number of black state legislators has increased dramatically in the last several decades, there is relatively little known about these important officeholders and how they compare to their white colleagues. Through a nationwide survey conducted in 1991-92, we gain some information on these legislators. The results depict some similarities among black and white legislators in terms of background characteristics and public policy concerns. The more obvious trends in the survey findings, however, are the many significant racial differences between these lawmakers, especially their perceptions of black legislative life and racial progress. While region, racial composition of district, party status, and gender serve to condition these racial disparities, significant differences in black-white legislative views remain. As more African Americans are elected to high state office, expectations that black officials may be able to address issues important to black (and perhaps other) citizens are raised. Following the 1994 elections, there were 529 black state legislators, more than three times as many as there were in 1969. The states, moreover, are the most fiscally healthy level of government, and this factor along with the increased devolution of power from Washington has propelled black state legislators to the forefront in terms of meeting minority needs. As important as black legislators are, surprisingly little is known about who they are, what they have accomplished, and what kinds of barriers they encounter. Even less is known about how they and their white colleagues view one another. Since African Americans are relatively new to most state legislatures, this lack of knowledge is not surprising. Yet it is important to know how white and black legislators work together, how their backgrounds compare, what their political ideologies and policy concerns are, and how white legislators perceive black officeholders' political actions. These racial comparisons are

The Impact of Changing the Racial Composition of Congressional Districts on Legislators' Roll Call Behavior

The 1991-1992 redrawing of congressional districts produced the greatest changes of any remapping since the mid-1960s. In many states, particularly in the South, the driving force was the Justice Department demand that majority-minority districts be drawn wherever possible. In this article the author explores the consequences of changing the racial composition of districts on legislative behavior. A measure of conservatism and a measure of support for civil rights concerns serve as the dependent variables. Comparing voting records of southern legislators in 1993 with those from the 102nd Congress shows that freshman Republicans were particularly conservative and more senior representatives were often more conservative. Some evidence suggests that first-term Democrats were more liberal than their predecessors. At first it appeared that legislators modified their voting records in response to changes in the racial composition of their districts. Once further controls were imposed, it became clear that the relationship between constituency change and roll call voting was limited to Black legislators who replaced Whites.

Press Coverage of Blacks and the Black Community: the Minority Legislator's Perspective

This mail survey of black elected officials in state legislatures looked at black elected officials' views on white Press coverage of the black community, evaluation of the black elected officials' own relationships with the white Press, and ways that these black elected officials think that the white Press can improve coverage of news about blacks and the black community. Coverage of the black community was seen generally as insensitive, incomplete and inappropriate. The black elected officials endorse increased hiring of black reporters and editors and several other steps aimed at improving black news coverage. Discrimination in coverage was seen as extending beyond crime news, to include education news, business and industry, and news of the professions. These black elected officials felt the white Press favored white officeholders, and the sense of being discriminated against is greatest among black legislators from larger communities. The study concludes that the Kerner Commission recommendation for ...

Black Legislators of Reconstruction Texas

Black Legislators of Reconstruction Texas

Black Decision Makers

Social scientists have devoted very limited attention to Black decision makers' perceptions of their roles and role performances. This limited concern is due in part perhaps to the small number of broad-base elected and appointed positions which Blacks have held in the past. However, trends now indicate that an increasing number is serving in elected positions (Black State Legislators, 1972; National Roster of Black Elected Officials, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974; Jones, 1971; Pickney, 1969; Hatcher, 1969: 287-393; Nelson and Meranto, 1977). While systematic data on appointed officials are less accessible, there is evidence that the number of Blacks serving in appointed positions has increased significantly also, especially at the state and national levels (Telephone Interviews with State Personnel Directors in Eight States, 1980; Fact Sheet 108, 1980: 1-16). Conyers and Wallace (1976: 41-42, 137-145) focused upon some limited aspects of role perceptions in a national survey of 799 Black elected officials. The perceptions of the 34 officials interviewed reflected two overlapping positions: those who

Black Colleges Redefined

Illustration by Paul Spina minority a curious reflection of majority. I say curious because in human social system minority provides a double reflection: It indicates what society has been and what it can be. Richard Wright recognized this several decades ago when he wrote, We black folk, our history and our present being, are a mirror of all manifold experiences of America. Whites, he said, can better understand themselves majority by coming to know minority. I begin this discussion on future of black colleges and universities by emphasizing function of minorities in society in hope of replacing frame of reference used by national leaders such Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He suggested that progress of minority seriously retarded when its way of life is out of line with rest of American society. This implies that minorities should be other-directed, that their behavior should be imitative, that they should be remade in image of whites. And Christopher Jencks and David Riesman, in a 1967 Harvard Educational Review article, American Negro College, called black college of midtwentieth century ill-financed, ill-staffed caricature of white higher education. Michael Meyers of NAACP has attempted to dismiss argument for continuation of black colleges an outcry of emotionalism, ethnic chauvinism, and paternalism. He summed up his view with this statement: No matter what else taught or how well it taught, fact that a school segregated teaches that there a qualitative difference between students in black and white colleges. Clearly Meyers's assumption that black colleges are second rate. Apparently, any approach to education that differs for blacks does not make sense to Meyers or Moynihan. In this respect, they are bedfellows. The logic of positing a different educational approach for minority lost on both critics. Meyers has formulated question wrongly in assuming that the issue at stake in current controversy over all-black colleges segregation. Others believe that issue education! With this kind of criticism coming from friends of black institutions, it difficult for these colleges to get a hearing regarding what they can, could, and should do not only for blacks but for education of nation. Yet our national history offers evidence that approach of minority may in end be of great value to majority. W.E.B. Du Bois said that public school system in most southern states began with enfranchisement of blacks. The idea that masses should be educated to effectively participate in public decision making was formulated by Thomas Jefferson several decades before Civil War, but was not implemented until blacks became members of southern state legislatures during Reconstruction. In early 1800s there was no public educational system in South, except perhaps in North Carolina. In his study, Black Reconstruction in America, Du Bois said that education was regarded by poor whites before Civil War as a luxury connected with wealth. In Thomas Jefferson's Virginia, for example, less than one half of poor white children were attending any The laws passed in South Carolina between 1856 and 1870 that authorized tax-supported schools open to all were described in book the most beneficial legislation state... has ever enacted. These laws were initiated and supported by black lawmakers. One could say of Reconstruction black legislators that progeny of former slaves fulfilled for all people slave owner's dream of publicly supported education in South. In contemporary times, blacks have continued to link legislation and idea of liberation in a way that has improved education for members of their own race and for whites. Each day before he leaves home for his classes, Allan Bakke should thank God that there are racial minorities in America whose political action resulted in a law that guarantees his right to attend medical school. That law Civil Rights Act of 1964. John Monro of Tougaloo College (see box, page 30) has said that if more white colleges used readings from black authors, readings that develop a full and accurate awareness of American black experience, this country would be much better off. He acknowledged, however, that the white colleges are not going to do it, or anything like itwhich one reason sensible people prefer to teach in black colleges. CHARLES V. WILLIE, a sociologist, professor of education and urban studies, Harvard Graduate School of Education. He and Ronald R. Edmonds are coeditors of Black Colleges in America, reviewed in this issue.

Black Legislators and African-American Relations, 1970-1975

The black legislator has unique responsibilities in American politics. Not only does he represent the constituents in his particular district, but he is also concerned with the cause of black people throughout the United States, as well as that of nonwhites in various parts of the world. In the realm of international affairs, black legislators tend to give top priority to African-related matters. The purpose of this research is to assess the role of Blacks in Congress in the development of American foreign policy in regards to Africa. In 1975, eighteen Blacks were serving in Congress--seventeen representatives (one as a nonvoting delegate from Washington, DC) and one senator. The seventeen members of the House of Representatives were all Democrats, with Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts being the lone Republican. With a few exceptions, the districts from which these legislators came were composed of predominantly black constitu-

Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction (review)

BOOK REVIEWS281 pacified vengeful Minnesotans by permitting removal of the Sioux and even the innocent Winnebagos from the state, he doomed the tribes to destitution in Dakota Territory. Nichols closes by assessing Lincoln as a man who exerted minimal direct influence on Indian affairs during his presidency. His genuine sympathies for them never altered his priorities, the foremost being prosecution of the Civil War. Consequently, "The condition of the Indians, congressional actions, and continued corruption all support the conclusion that the Lincoln administration implemented little significant change in the Indian System" (p. 208) . Despite the failure of reform, the early 1860s was a critical period in Indian-white relations, and Lincoln and the Indians adds to our understanding of why it was so devastating for Native Americans. Nichols' research in relevant records of the Indian Office, War Department and several state historical collections is thorough. The volume contains little which is factually new; the contribution comes from its tight focus on Lincoln and his immediate subordinates rather than on the Indians and federal field agents. In a broader context this clearly-written study throws light on why federal Indian removal and coercive assimilation policies lasted so long. It was not just the lucrative patronage of the Indian System and westward surging pioneers which thwarted nineteenth-century reformers. Nichols demonstrates how difficult it was to break the strong "chain of ideas" which bound Indians in the minds of United States citizens as "a static, uncivilized impediment to the progress of civilization" (p. 196). Nor was Lincoln's low priority for Indian matters unique to the Civil War years. Unhappily, a century later it still helps to explain their position in American society. Edmund J. Danziger Bowling Green State University Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction. By Thomas Holt. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977. Pp. 269. $12.50.) In this volume Thomas Holt discredits many of the myths which have continued to distort South Carolina's Reconstruction history. For example , while historian Eric McKitrick in his Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction describes post-Reconstruction governor Wade Hampton as a "legendary and heroic figure," and Joel Williamson in his widelyacclaimed 1965 publication, After Slavery: The Negro in South Carolina during Reconstruction, refers to him as a man of "inflexible rectitude" and "sober courage," Holt portrays Hampton more accurately as a paternalistic racist committed to the maintenance of white supremacy. Holt also challenges Williamson's conclusion that Reconstruction represented for South Carolina's blacks "a period of unequaled progress," perceiving that this so-called economic progress reflected the imple- 282CIVIL WAR HISTORY mentation of agricultural peonage for blacks within the state. Rejecting, too, W. E. B. DuBois's comment that a measure of glory accompanied the end of the black effort to restructure Southern society, Holt instead accentuates the depth of the failure of Reconstruction in South Carolina. Indeed, the most important contribution of Holt's book is that it demonstrates the shallow commitment with which most black leaders approached meaningful reform in South Carolina. As Holt illustrates consistently throughout his work, sharp strains of elitism characterized by bourgeois attitudes among blacks themselves undermined from the beginning the efforts ofmore radical blacks to bring freedom and justice to South Carolina. Ultimately, of course, millions of recently freed slaves suffered the consequences of the black leadership's inability to transcend the limitations of capitalism and class. For example, the efforts of black radicals in the legislature to strengthen the militia succumbed to the fears of numerous black legislators who, ignoring the record of white hostility toward blacks, claimed that the bill would endanger the financial credit of the state. Of greater consequence was the black leadership's reluctance to address critically pressing questions of economic and land reform, resulting in continued exploitation and oppression of black laborers. Black opposition to proposed labor legislation, for example, focused on the need to preserve so-called free enterprise, and a strong pro-labor measure introduced by former slave James Henderson failed even to obtain the support of blacks on the labor committee. It was in his attempt to account for what he called "the unexpected failure" of the black Republican legislators to advance...