Contours of African American Politics: Volume 1, Race and Representation in American Politics / Edition 1

This two-volume set presents a selection of scholarship on African American politics as it appeared in from its initial launch in 1989 to the spring of 2009. Represented are contributions from some of the leading scholars of African American politics, who have helped to establish and sustain the field. The volumes are organized around themes that derive from the unfolding real-life drama of African American politics and its subsequent scholarly treatment. The result is a window into the political efforts that meld the historically disparate strands of black political expressions into a reconstructed and strategically nimble, electoral-based mass mobilization necessary for optimizing the impact of the African American vote. Sections in the volumes also chronicle the evolution of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists as a professional organization. The two volumes illuminate a pivotal epoch in black political empowerment and provide a context for the future of black politics.