Abstract
This chapter presents a history of the development and institutionalization of black politics in the political science discipline, focusing on the pivotal role of Walton’s writings in helping to define the parameters of the field, the organizing of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, and Walton’s lobbying of the American Political Science Association, which resulted in the establishment of black politics as a subfield in the discipline in 1989.
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Notes
- 1.
Paul Peterson, “Organizational Imperatives and Ideological Change: The Case of Black Power”, Urban Affairs Quarterly 14(1979): 463–84, Donald McCormack, “Stokely Carmichael and Pan Africanism: Back to Black Power” Journal of Politics 35(1973): 386–409 and Robert C. Smith, “Black Power and the Transformation from Protest to Politics” Political Science Quarterly 96(1981): 431–45. More generally see Robert C. Smith, Ronald W. Walters and the Fight for Black Power, 1969–2016 (Albany: SUNY Press, 2018).
- 2.
Katherine Tate, “Black Science in Political Science” in Robert C. Smith, Cedric Johnson and Robert Newby (eds.), What Has This Got to Do with the Liberation of Black People?: The Impact of Ronald W. Walters on African American Thought and Leadership (Albany: SUNY Press 2014): 93.
- 3.
Ibid., p. 95.
- 4.
Ronald Walters, “The Meaning of Black Studies” in Samuel Goldman and Peter Clark (eds.), Integration and Separation in Education (Syracuse: School of Education, Syracuse University, 1970) and Walters , “Toward a Definition of Black Social Science” in Joyce Ladner (ed.) The Death of White Sociology (New York: Free Press, 1973). On Walters’ role in developing a black perspective in Black Studies and in establishing the Black Politics field in political science at Howard see Smith, Ronald W. Walters and the Fight for Black Power, 1969–2016, Chaps. 4–6.
- 5.
“Report of the Conference on Political Science Curriculum at Predominantly Black Universities”, PS: Political Science and Politics 2(1969): 321–53.
- 6.
Ibid., p. 325.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 329.
- 10.
Mack Jones, “A Frame of Reference for Black Politics” in Lenneal Henderson (ed.) Black Political Life in the U.S. (San Francisco: Chandler, 1972); “Scientific Method, Value Judgments and the Black Predicament in the United States”, Review of Black Political Economy 7(1976): 9–23; and “Political science and the Black Political Experience: Issues in Epistemology and Relevance”, National Political Science Review 3(1992): 3–12. Each of these articles is reprinted in Jones, Knowledge, Power and Black Politics: Collected Essays (Albany: SUNY Press, 2014). In addition to his writings, Jones contributed to the development of black politics as a field through his leadership as the founding President of NCOBPS and as founding Chair of the Atlanta University doctoral program in political science (Atlanta and Howard were the only black universities to offer the PhD in political science). On Jones’ leadership in NCOBPS’ founding see Joseph McCormick, “Beyond Tactical Withdrawal: An Early History of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists”, National Political Science Review 13 (2012): 159–78. On Atlanta’s PhD program, see Adolph Reed , Jr., “Reflections on Atlanta University Political Science”, National Political Science Review 9 (2003): 236–45.
- 11.
Hanes Walton, Jr., “The Recent Literature of Black Politics” PS: Political Science and Politics 18(1985): 771. On the impact of the Civil Rights Movement specifically on the study of race in the social sciences see Harwood McClerking and Tasha Philpot “Struggling to Be Noticed: The Civil Rights Movement as an Agenda Setter” PS: Political Science and Politics 23(2008):813–17.
- 12.
Ibram Rogers, The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstruction of Higher Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010): 151.
- 13.
Alex Poinsett “The Plight of Black Studies” Ebony, December, 1973.
- 14.
Rogers, The Black Campus Movement, p. 82.
- 15.
“Report of the Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession” PS: Political Science and Politics 2(1969): 553.
- 16.
Maurice Woodard and Michael Preston “The Rise and Decline of Black Political Scientists in the Profession” PS: Political Science and Politics 17(1984): 787–92.
- 17.
Walton, “The Recent Literature of Black Politics”, p. 772.
- 18.
“Report of the Conference on Political Science at Predominantly Black Universities ”, p. 334.
- 19.
“Report of the Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession ”.
- 20.
McCormick, “Beyond Tactical Withdrawal”.
- 21.
Not much is known about Nowlin but the book (reprinted in 1970) is a descriptive analysis of blacks in Congress, national party conventions, presidential campaigns and administrations from Reconstruction to the 1930s. It also includes analysis of the role of the NAACP concluding that “It appears that the position of the Negro in politics for some time in the future will depend largely upon the leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” The Negro in American National Politics (New York: Russell & Russell, 1930, 1970): 144.
- 22.
Margaret Burgess, Negro Leadership in a Southern City (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962), Donald Matthews and James Protho, Negros and the New Southern Politics (New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1966), Daniel Thompson, The Negro Leadership Class (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1963), James Q. Wilson , Negro Politics: The Search for Leadership (New York: The Free Press, 1960) and Everett Carl Ladd, Negro Political Leadership (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1966).
- 23.
These leadership studies are reviewed in Robert C Smith, Black Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research (Washington: Howard University, Institute for Urban Affairs and Research, 1983), reprinted as Part 1 in Ronald Walters and Robert C. Smith, African American Leadership (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999).
- 24.
Paula McClain and John Garcia, “Expanding Disciplinary Boundaries: Black, Latino and Racial Minority Group Politics” in Ada Finifter (ed.) Political Science: The State of the Discipline (Washington: American Political Science Association, 1973). Matthew Holden’s major fields were bureaucracy and the regulatory process. But his The Politics of the Black Nation (New York: Chandler Publishing, 1973) is a seminal text in the field for the Walton generation. On the significance of the book see “Symposium: The Politics of the Black Nation” Joseph McCormick (ed.) National Political Science Review 8(2000). Holden’s companion volume, The White Man’s Burden (New York: Chandler Publishing, 1973) is an incisive analysis of the ideology of white supremacy.
- 25.
On Nelson , see Lester Spence “Heroism and the Political Scientist: Reflections on Richard Iton, Nick Nelson and Hanes Walton” Politics, Groups and Identities 1(2013): 594–601 and Khalilah Brown-Dean “In the Final Analysis: On Nick Nelson’s Contributions to the Study of Black Politics” Politics, Groups and Identities 1(2013): 562–70.
- 26.
Hanes Walton, Jr., “Introduction: Essays in Honor of Jewel Limar Prestage” in Shelby Lewis Smith (ed.) Black Political Scientists and Black Survival (Lansing, MI: Balamp Publishing, 1977) and Shelia Martin Harmon, “Jewel Limar Prestage: Trailblazer and Mother of Black Political Science” PS: Political Science and Politics 38(2005): 95–97. See also Marianne Githens and Jewel Prestage, A Portrait of Marginality: The Political Behavior of the American Woman (New York: David McKay, 1976) and Prestage “In Quest of African American Political Woman” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 515(1991): 88–103.
- 27.
Barker’s major fields were the courts and civil liberties and civil rights, writing a number of articles on race and the courts and civil rights. Also the author of a textbook in the field and a former NCOBPS president, he was the founding editor (1989) of the NCOBPS journal, National Political Science Review .
- 28.
McClain and Garcia, “Expanding Disciplinary Boundaries”, p. 251.
- 29.
Ibid., p. 253.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
Ibid., p. 256.
- 32.
On the absence of a “core” in political science or its major fields see “The Nature of Contemporary Political Science: A Roundtable” PS: Political Science and Politics 23(1990):34–42.
- 33.
Hanes Walton to Thomas Mann, April 29, 1987 (PFA).
- 34.
Ibid.
- 35.
Thomas Mann to Hanes Walton, June 5, 1987 (PFA).
- 36.
Catherine Rudder to Hanes Walton, June 18, 1987 (PFA).
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Smith, R.C. (2018). Black Science. In: Hanes Walton, Jr.: Architect of the Black Science of Politics. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75571-7_3
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