ABSTRACT
This paper reviews how the recent round of redistricting impacted African-American representation in Congress and state legislatures. The 1990s round of redistricting is the first to occur since Congress amended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. To examine the impact of redistricting, we have prepared two sets of tables. One set of tables summarizes African-American representation following the 1990 elections but prior to the 1990s round of redistricting. The other set of tables describes the impact of redistricting by reviewing the results of the first post-redistricting elections. Redistricting in the 1990s has led to a significant increase in the number of African Americans elected to legislative office. This growth is particularly prominent in the south. Since African Americans were more seriously underrepresented in southern state legislatures and congressional delegations prior to the redistricting process, we expected the greatest gains for African-Americans to occur in the south after redistricting.
