Political analysts and journalists often draw analogies between John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic Irish president, and Barack Obama, the first African American president. Their election to the nation's highest office was historic, but for reasons not fully appreciated. In John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance, Robert C. Smith provides a fascinating comparison of the challenges both men faced in their bid for the presidency, while at the same time providing comparative histories of the Catholic Irish and African American struggles to overcome racial and religious subordination in America. Kennedy's Catholicism was an explicit issue in the 1960 election, and once elected he was extremely careful to avoid appearing either "too Irish" or "too Catholic." While Obama's race was not an explicit issue in the 2008 election, he was just as careful to avoid appearing "too black." Paradoxically religion—thanks to rumors and lies about whether Obama was a Muslim—became a substitute for race, allowing Republican strategists to "otherize" Obama by raising the issue of religion in the context of national security and terrorism.

Political analysts and journalists often draw analogies between John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic Irish president, and Barack Obama, the first African American president. Their election to the nation s highest office was historic, but for reasons not fully appreciated. In "John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance," Robert C. Smith provides a fascinating comparison of the challenges both men faced in their bid for the presidency, while at the same time providing comparative histories of the Catholic Irish and African American struggles to overcome racial and religious subordination in America. Kennedy s Catholicism was an explicit issue in the 1960 election, and once elected he was extremely careful to avoid appearing either too Irish or too Catholic. While Obama s race was not an explicit issue in the 2008 election, he was just as careful to avoid appearing too black. Paradoxically religion thanks to rumors and lies about whether Obama was a Muslim became a substitute for race, allowing Republican strategists to otherize Obama by raising the issue of religion in the context of national security and terrorism."

Contours of African American Politics chronicles the systematic study of African American politics and its subsequent recognition as an established field of scholarly inquiry. African American politics emanates from the demands of the prolonged struggle for black liberation and empowerment. Hence, the study of African American politics has sought to track, codify, and analyze the struggle that has been mounted, and to understand the historic and changing political status of African Americans within American society. The notion of a post-racial America is one that was birthed by the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States. However, another reality is equally compelling: that for some time now, many African American aspirants for elective office have run against race-specific issues, putting individual desires to win office above the conventionally defined collective interests of black folk. Clearly, the Obama presidential election crystallized a complexity of change that had been underway in America prior to his election. Indeed, did the Obama election signal the end of black politics? Does race remain a useful construct for framing the collective interests of African Americans? Volume III of Contours of African American Politics examines all of these questions in an effort to understand the more poignant question of the future of that which we have known as black politics.

Examines the complicated political legacy of our first black president Written during the presidency of Donald Trump, After Obama examines the impact President Barack Obama and his administration have continued to have upon African American politics. In this comprehensive volume, Todd C. Shaw, Robert A. Brown, and Joseph P. McCormick II bring together more than a dozen scholars to explore his complex legacy, including his successes, failures, and contradictions. Contributors focus on a wide range of topics, including how President Obama affected aspects of African American politics, how his public policies influenced the quality of Black citizenship and life, and what future administrations can learn from his experiences. They also examine the present-day significance of Donald Trump in relation to African American politics. A timely and thorough work, After Obama provides the first examination of the Obama administration in its entirety, and the lasting impact it has had on African American politics.

Lively and engaging essays covering President Obama’s domestic and foreign policy, governing style, and character.

This dynamic and comprehensive text from two nationally renowned scholars continues to demonstrate the profound influence African Americans have had -- and continue to have -- on American politics. Through the use of two interrelated themes -- the idea of universal freedom and the concept of minority-majority coalitions -- the text demonstrates how the presence of Africans in the United States affected the founding of the Republic and its political institutions and processes. The authors show that through the quest for their own freedom in the United States, African Americans have universalized and expanded the freedoms of all Americans.

Black Politics in a Time of Transition appears at an historic point in American politics. From the vantage point of the maturation of the study of black politics, this volume provides a framework for current and future discussion of this critical time. Incorporating the expanded stream of work on today's black politics, this latest volume of the National Political Science Review is also a new assessment of the period from which the study of black politics emerged. Selected for this volume are chapters of contemporary relevance alongside those that reconsider an early twentieth- century pioneer in black politics and history, W. E. B. Du Bois. The volume also includes a robust book review section that spans a range of topics from the South's new racial politics to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This volume features work by varied and accomplished scholars, including "Black Power in Black Presidential Bids From Jackson to Obama," Katherine Tate; "'But I Voted for Obama': Melodrama and Post-Civil Rights, Post-Feminist Ideology in Grey's Anatomy, Crash, and Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Bid," Nikol Alexander-Floyd; "Afro-Brazilian Black Linked Fate in Salvador and Sao Paulo, Brazil," Gladys Mitchell; and "Beyond Tactical Withdrawal: An Early History of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists," Joseph P. McCormick, II.

This dynamic and comprehensive text from nationally renowned scholars continues to demonstrate the profound influence African Americans have had -- and continue to have -- on American politics. Through the use of two interrelated themes -- the idea of universal freedom and the concept of minority-majority coalitions -- the text demonstrates how the presence of Africans in the United States affected the founding of the Republic and its political institutions and processes. The authors show that through the quest for their own freedom in the United States, African Americans have universalized and expanded the freedoms of all Americans. New to the Eighth Edition A new co-author, Sherri L. Wallace, is renowned for her teaching, scholarship, and participation in APSA’s American government textbook assessment for coverage of race, ethnicity, and gender. She is the perfect addition following an election year that included female presidential candidates as well as candidates of color and issues focusing on racial tension and inequality. Offers a new Media Integration Guide for the first time. Provides the first overall assessment of the Obama administration in relation to domestic and foreign policy and racial politics in particular. Updated through the 2016 elections, connecting the Obama years with the new administration. Looks at candidates Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson in particular in relation to the themes of the book. Adds a new section on State Politics and Elections. Includes new sections on intersectionality dealing with issues of race, gender and sexuality; LGBT issues as another manifestation of the struggle for universal freedom; a discussion of the "Black Lives Matter" movement; and a new section focusing on the changing character of black ethnicity as result of increased immigration from Africa and the Caribbean. Discusses the way in which race contributed to the polarization of American politics; the connections to the Tea Party; and the Obama Presidency and the 2016 presidential campaign as the most polarized since the advent of polling. Previews the impact of the Trump Administration on matters of race and ethnicity.

From his leadership of the first modern lunch counter sit-ins at age twenty to his work on African American reparations at the time of his death at age seventy-two, Ronald W. Walters (1938–2010) was at the cutting edge of African American politics. A preeminent scholar, activist, and media commentator, he was founding chair of the Black Studies Department at Brandeis, where he shaped the epistemological parameters of the new discipline. Walters was an early strategist of congressional black power and a longtime advocate of a black presidential candidacy. His writings on the politics of race in America both predicted the constraints on President Obama in advancing African American interests and anticipated the emergence of the white nationalism found in the Tea Party and Donald Trump insurgency. In this fascinating book, Robert C. Smith combines history and biography to offer an overview of the last half century of black politics in America through the lens of the life and work of the man often described as the W. E. B. Du Bois of his time.

A provocative and lively examination of the meaning of America's first black presidency, by the New York Times-bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop. Michael Eric Dyson explores the powerful, surprising way the politics of race have shaped Barack Obama’s identity and groundbreaking presidency. How has President Obama dealt publicly with race—as the national traumas of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Walter Scott have played out during his tenure? What can we learn from Obama's major race speeches about his approach to racial conflict and the black criticism it provokes? Dyson explores whether Obama’s use of his own biracialism as a radiant symbol has been driven by the president’s desire to avoid a painful moral reckoning on race. And he sheds light on identity issues within the black power structure, telling the fascinating story of how Obama has spurned traditional black power brokers, significantly reducing their leverage. President Obama’s own voice—from an Oval Office interview granted to Dyson for this book—along with those of Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, and Maxine Waters, among others, add unique depth to this profound tour of the nation’s first black presidency. “Dyson proves…that he is without peer when it comes to contextualizing race in twenty-first-century America… A must-read for anyone who wants to better understand America’s racial past, present, and future.”—Gilbert King, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Devil in the Grove “No one understands the American dilemma of race—and Barack Obama’s confounding and yet wondrous grappling with it—better than [Dyson.]”—Douglas Blackmon, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Slavery by Another Name