American Politics and the African American Quest for Universal Freedom

This tenth edition includes three core additions. The first, an assessment of the 2022 midterm and 2024 presidential and congressional midterm elections. Second, we assess the presidency of Joseph R. Biden in the context of divided government, where the Republicans control the House of Representatives, and the Democrats control the Senate and the White House. The third core addition is an overall assessment of the record of the African American elected officials’ in advancing the “Black Agenda” given the changing electorate and its increased diversity in identities and ideologies, even within the Black community.

All chapters have been updated with new content and the latest data available, specifically:

• Chapter 1; the language in this chapter—and all chapters in the text—have been updated with inclusive and affirming language.

• Chapter 3; rewritten with more discussion on “Elements of Black Culture” and updated material on the political significance of African American music and the African American Church.

• Chapter 4; updates on Black American public opinion and the various strands of African American ideology.

• Chapter 5; an updated section on the CROWN Act and the politics of black hair, and revision to the African American celebrity impact on politics.

• Chapter 6; updated discussion of the political significance of the increasing ethnic diversity of Black communities due to immigration from Africa and the Caribbean. Update to “Black Lives Matter” discussion.

• Chapter 7; updated discussion on African American women interest group activities, including the first Black sorority political action committee established in the U.S. New discussion on the advocacy organizations serving the Black LGBTQI+ community.

• Chapter 9; updates on characteristics of eligible and registered Black voters, the coverage of the 2024 presidential and congressional elections, and the results of the congressional elections with respect to partisan control of Congress and the size of the Black congressional delegation.

• Chapter 10; the section on substantive representation has been expanded. The discussion on selected demographic characteristics of the members of the 118th Congress now includes sexual orientation and generational data for comparison.

• Chapter 11; includes an assessment of the race policies of President Biden, reclassifying him as “antiracist.” We add an alternative method of ranking presidents that brings the views of Black experts to the conversation, and include a discussion of the record number of Black political appointments and policies implemented under Biden. The bureaucracy focus has been revised.

• Chapter 12; discussion on the confirmation hearing of the first Black woman, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed the Supreme Court. New material on the Voting Rights Act, Affirmative Action, and the Pigford cases testing institutional racism.

• Chapter 13; a mention box on the “Tennessee Three,” that highlights racism in the rare expulsion of two Black members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and updates the discussion on how Republican state-controlled legislatures are stunting the quest for universal freedom.

• Chapter 14; revisions using the Urban League’s State of Black America “Equality Index,” as a measure of material well-being in the African American community, to examine historic and systemic patterns in structural inequities as manifested in economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement. The COVID-19 pandemic is used as a case study.