Congress in Black and White: Race and Representation in Washington and at Home

by Christian R. Grose

• ISBN13: 9780521177016
• ISBN10: 0521177014
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-01-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The symbolic importance of Barack Obama's election is without question. But beyond symbolism, does the election of African-American politicians matter? Grose argues that it does and presents a unified theory of representation. Electing African-American legislators yields more federal dollars and congressional attention directed toward African-American voters. However, race and affirmative action gerrymandering have no impact on public policy passed in Congress. Grose is the first to examine a natural experiment and exceptional moment in history in which black legislators - especially in the U.S. South - represented districts with a majority of white constituents. This is the first systematic examination of the effect of a legislator's race above and beyond the effect of constituency racial characteristics. Grose offers policy prescriptions, including the suggestion that voting rights advocates, the courts, and redistricters draw "black decisive districts," electorally competitive districts that are likely to elect African Americans.

Author Biography

Christian R. Grose is assistant professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has previously served at Vanderbilt University and Lawrence University. He holds a PhD from the University of Rochester and a BA from Duke University. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Everett Dirksen Congressional Center, and his work has appeared in numerous journals, including the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, and Legislative Studies Quarterly.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
African-American Legislators, African-American Districts, or Democrats?	p. 1
Summary of Book's Argument and Findings	p. 8
The Book's Roadmap	p. 11
A Unified Theory of African-American Representation in Congress	p. 14
The Unified Theory of African-American Representation in Congress	p. 17
Three Competing Theories of Racial Representation in Congress	p. 18
Racial Trust between Black Voters and Black Legislators	p. 21
Congressional Decision Making, Political Parties, and Race	p. 24
Electoral Coalitions, Turnout, and Substantive Representation	p. 29
Black Faces, White Districts: The Supreme Court and Racial Redistricting	p. 37
White Legislators and Black-Influence Districts	p. 48
Why No One Has Examined Both a Legislator's Race and a District's Black Population	p. 49
The ôHollow Hopeö of Civil Rights Change in the U.S. House	p. 54
Perverse Effects, Beneficial Effects, or Minimal Effects? Does Racial Gerrymandering Affect Median Civil Rights Policy Outcomes in the U.S. House?	p. 58
What Are Black Interests on Roll Calls?	p. 62
How Can We Determine Legislators' Preferences on Civil Rights?	p. 64
Has the Civil Rights Policy Space in Congress Changed Over Time?	p. 66
The Relative Unimportance of the South for Civil Rights Floor Outcomes in the House	p. 68
Civil Rights Ideological Shifts in State Delegations Due to Racial Redistricting	p. 71
Political Parties, Agenda Setting, and Civil Rights Voting Records in Congress	p. 74
Counterfactual Analysis	p. 76
Did the Creation of Black-Majority Districts in 1992 Give the House to Republicans?	p. 78
Summary: Racial Redistricting in 1992 and Aggregate Policy Outcomes in the U.S. House	p. 81
What About at the District Level? Does Party or Race Matter More?	p. 82
Implications for the Future of Majority-Minority Districts	p. 84
Location, Location, Location: Delivering Constituency Service to African Americans	p. 87
Constituency Service as Substantive Representation	p. 89
The Importance of Race: Helping Constituents in the District	p. 90
Talking with Congressional Staff to Assess Constituency Service to African Americans	p. 91
Reaching Voters with Service: Race Trumps Geography and Party	p. 96
Randy Forbes: ôBig Shoes to Fillö	p. 97
Earl Hilliard: ôHe Was Elected to Represent the People Hereö	p. 100
Congressional Offices in Black Neighborhoods?	p. 104
Constituency Service in the District: Connecting Black Legislators, Black Staff, and Black Voters	p. 110
African-American Staff and Substantive Congressional Representation	p. 111
White Staff and Substantive Representation via Constituency Service	p. 115
The Racial Backgrounds of Congressional District Staff Across the United States	p. 119
Which Members of Congress Disproportionately Hire African-American Staff?	p. 122
Commonality versus Difference: No Difference	p. 127
Conclusion: Race and the Quality of Constituency Service to Black Constituents	p. 131
Bringing Home the Bacon: Delivering Federal ôPorkö to African Americans	p. 134
Pork Is Substantive Representation	p. 138
Bringing Home the Bacon to Predominately Black Counties and Historically Black Colleges and Universities	p. 139
Black Legislators Deliver More Projects to African Americans	p. 150
The Effect of a Legislator's Race on Project Allocations	p. 151
The Effect of Party on Project Allocation to Black Constituents	p. 153
Racial Trust: The Interactive Effect of District Black Population and a Legislator's Race	p. 155
Pork Delivery, Electoral Coalitions, and Racial Representation	p. 159
Conclusion and Discussion	p. 165
The Future of Racial Redistricting: Black-Decisive Districts	p. 167
Race, Legislative Representation, and the Importance of Elections	p. 168
The Need for Black-Decisive Districts: Policy Implications for the Future of Majority-Minority Districts and Representation	p. 172
Criteria for Drawing Districting Plans Maximizing Black-Decisive Districts	p. 178
Conclusion and Closing Thoughts	p. 183
Methods Used to Measure the Civil Rights Issue Space	p. 187
Methods for Qualitative Research	p. 193
Data, Methods, and Models for Project Allocations to African Americans	p. 197
References	p. 215
Index	p. 231
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.