Conflict

This book is an examination that looks at African American women's navigation of the interlocking obstacles of race and gender specifically within the political arena. A question previously posed in the abstract became real during the 2008 presidential election. Asked to make a choice, would an African American woman support a male African American candidate or a non-African American female candidate? If identity politics played a role in her decision, which identity would hold sway, female or African American? This volume offers an examination of an increasingly important voting bloc, one that impacted the 2008 election and whose loyalties will have far-reaching implications for future contests. This study is three-pronged. It explores the conflicts African American women experience in prioritizing race over gender, offers data-backed analysis of the substantial power of this bloc to influence elections, and looks at the ways in which the very existence of that influence impacts the political and social empowerment of this dual-identity population. As background to the present day story, the book surveys the history of African American females in elective office in the United States, as well as their roles in the Women's Suffrage and Civil Rights movements. It undertakes a study of African American women in this expansive political context, and it helps readers assess where African American women have been, where they are now, and what their roles might be in the future.