Congress in Black and White

Christian Grose is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California, where he has served on the faculty since 2010. He previously taught at Vanderbilt University and Lawrence University. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Rochester and received his BA from Duke University. His research has focused on American political institutions (Congress and the Presidency), legislative representation, distributive public policy, voting rights and racial politics. In addition to this book, he has published or has forthcoming 16 articles in scholarly journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, the British Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Polity and Presidential Studies Quarterly. Christian received the 2010 CQ Press award for the best paper on legislative studies presented at the American Political Science Association meeting. He is also a previous recipient of the Carl Albert award for the best dissertation in legislative politics from the American Political Science Association. In addition to his scholarly work, he is a commentator on politics and public affairs in the media.

• 1. African-American legislators, African-American districts, or democrats?; 2. A unified theory of African-American representation in Congress; 3. The 'hollow hope' of civil rights change in the US House; 4. Location, location, location: delivering constituency service to African Americans; 5. Constituency service in the district: connecting black legislators, black staff, and black voters; 6. Bringing home the bacon: delivering federal 'pork' to African Americans; 7. The future of racial redistricting: black decisive districts.

“Grose shows how African-American and white members of Congress, both in the South and elsewhere, have developed new ways to reach out and respond to constituents of all races. These findings, based on a careful, multi-method research design, provide new, fundamental, and important insights into the role of race in contemporary American politics, the politics of civil rights, and debates over redistricting strategies and the value of majority-minority districts.” —William Bianco, Indiana University