Politics in the New South: Representation of African Americans in Southern State Legislatures

Charles E. Menifield · Stephen D. Shaffer

feb 2012 · State University of New York Press

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Winner of the 2006 V.O. Key Award presented by the Southern Political Science Association

This authoritative study of contemporary state legislatures in the South provides a fascinating account of how African Americans have achieved noticeable political power since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. A history of racial discrimination and one-party Democratic dominance is being supplanted by African American empowerment in a competitive two-party system. Contributors examine the evolution of the Black Caucus, the growing number of African American lawmakers, and the rise of black legislators to important leadership positions in the legislatures of each of the southern states. Roll call data on key votes from several legislative sessions in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas are analyzed.

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Charles E. Menifield is Associate Professor at the University of Memphis, where he teaches research methods, political statistics, budgeting and finance, and public management information systems. He is the editor of Representation of Minority Groups in the U.S.: Implications for the Twenty-first Century. Stephen D. Shaffer is Professor of Political Science at Mississippi State University and the coeditor (with Dale Krane) of Mississippi Government and Politics: Modernizers versus Traditionalists.