In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Acknowledgments During the course of writing this book we benefited from an enormous expression of support and guidance. We owe a special debt of gratitude to our loving families. We enjoyed numerous comments from friends and colleagues, including Adonijah Bakari, David Lowery, David Lublin, Charles Menifield, Michael Munger, Marion Orr, Wendy Smooth, Terry Sullivan, and Ron Walters—not to mention suggestions from countless co-panelists or audience members at a variety of conferences. Gary Segura, Katherine Tate, and Robert Holmes made invaluable contributions to the book by encouraging us to think more comprehensively about representation, institutions, and power. Our thanks go also to Joseph McCormick, who suggested that we consider expanding our discussions on black legislators and legislative black caucuses; and to Robert Smith and Michael Rinella at the State University of New York Press, who helped to guide the editing of the book. We are also grateful to Charles Hadley for granting us permission to use in revised form material previously published in the American Review of Politics, and to Austin and Winfield Publishers for use in revised form of material previously published in Representation of Minorities in the United States: Implications for the Twenty-First Century. And we are delighted to have the book adorned with cover art from our friend, Val Bochkov, one of the country’s most talented illustrators. Special appreciation is paid to Cheryl Miller, who has always been willing to discuss issues of black politics, representation, and public policy with us, and who has also served without complaint as a mentor. Along the way, many administrative assistants and staffers for legislative black caucuses gave us access to archival materials and opportunities to interview black legislators. Members of legislative black caucuses throughout the xv country were kind enough to answer our interview questions and share their stories. State librarians and secretary of state officials from Mississippi to Massachusetts faxed us materials and tolerated our plundering of journals. Nellie Humphries and Carolyn P. Franklin from the Alabama House of Representatives were particularly kind in duplicating material and gaining access to the local NBCSL office and then-NBCSL President James Thomas. Khalil Abdullah, Chuck Bremer, and Ivan Lanier and their staffs provided us with access to archival materials and allowed us to attend annual conferences of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. We are grateful to election analyst Tim Storey at the National Conference of State Legislators for providing us with comparative data and additional insight into the nuances of representation at the state level, and to Rick Hart of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies for supplying data on state legislators. Throughout this endeavor, we both benefited from the research leave and supplemental support offered by our universities and department chairs, respectively, John Vile (MTSU) and Cindy Hody (UMBC). That support also included help from a number of diligent undergraduate research assistants: Kendra Bell, Michael Belt, LaTaya Franklin, LaShawn Lester, Lisa Nissley, Douglas Nivens, and Valez Thornton. Finally, our most heartfelt thanks go to our loving and lovely wives, Elka and Traci. We cannot begin to repay them for their continued inspiration and support, and for tolerating the absences that too often kept us away from them. xvi Acknowledgments ...

Share