ABSTRACT
After a brief discussion of the historically progressive minority–majority coalition state and local governments during Reconstruction, this chapter studies the descriptive and substantive representation of African Americans in state and local governments, focusing particularly on race–gender intersectionality. This chapter also analyzes the impact of Republican control of state governments on the rights- and material-based interests of African Americans, and the problem of concentrated poverty and resource constraints on “Black Regime” cities and rural “Black Belt” counties in the South.
