Black Faces in the Mirror African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress

"Black Faces in the Mirroris an important new work. It contributes significantly to recent debates about the value of majority-minority congressional districts created in the 1990 redistricting, and to their impact upon descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Tate's research design allows her to compare party, race, political sphere, and types of representation through survey research of African American citizens linked with home style analysis of 252 members of Congress, who represent various parties and racial groups. Unlike previous scholars, Tate systematically compares black and white members, and examines the views of a significant sample of black citizens with a large survey of House members across racial and ethnic boundaries. Her work more precisely captures subtle differences in the ways African American citizens view descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Tate's sophisticated analysis will be read widely and avidly by public officials, graduate and undergraduate faculty and students, and political activists."--Dianne Pinderhughes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "For a comprehensive treatment of African-American representation in Congress, this is the work to read. Among its attractions is a fresh set of nationwide survey data."--David Mayhew, Yale University, author ofAmerica's Congress "This is an important and well-timed work that examines black representation from the perspective of ordinary black Americans. Tate does not pick a side in the debate over race and representation and cheer for her team. Instead, she allows the data to dictate her findings. This book will be much discussed in the fields of politics, law, and race."--David Lublin, American University "The combination of perspectives and analyses in this interesting study--unique so far as I know--makes it especially important. By looking at both the represented and the representative, Tate is able to ask and at least tentatively answer several critical questions about race and representation."--Barbara Sinclair, University of California, Los AngelesTate, Katherine is the author of 'Black Faces in the Mirror African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress', published 2004 under ISBN 9780691117867 and ISBN 0691117861.