The last edition of Black Elected Officials: A Statistical Summary showed that as of January 2000, the number of black elected officials (BEOs) in the U.S. was 9,040. This edition, which records the most current complete data for those in office as of January 2001 shows that in the intervening year,the number of BEOs rose by 61 to reach 9,101, a 0.7 percent increase over the previous year (Table 1). In 1970, the first year in which the Joint Center collected this data, there were 1,469BEOs. The newest total of 9,101 black elected officials in 2001 represents a historic high.

The largest categorical increase in BEOs was at the county level, where there was an increase of 22positions, a 2.3 percent rise. There were also significant increases among black state level officials, 11or 1.8 percent, primarily due to an increase of 13 black state representatives. Every category of BEOs increased from 2000 to 2001, with the exception of U.S. House members, which remained constant.

The Joint Center previously published this information in book version annually from 1970 to 1993. The Joint Center now provides information on BEOs in more abbreviated formats and statistical summaries. More detailed information on BEOs including names, addresses, and offices may be purchased. For ordering information, please contact the Joint Center's Office of Development and Communications at (202) 789-6366.

Date Published: May 2002
 

This is a report on a national survey of black elected officials which was conducted as part of the Joint Center's Divergent Generations Project. The Divergent Generations Project seeks to document differences in political participation and public policy views associated with generational change in the black population. While previous research for this project has focused on the black population as a whole, this study examines whether the generational change evident among the black public can also be seen among the population of black elected officials.

Since 1996, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' National Opinion Polls have tracked differences in the political attitudes and public policy preferences between different generations of African Americans. Some of these differences have been quite substantial. They are reflected for example, in partisan identification, with older African Americans continuing to identify most closely with the Democratic party while a significant percentage of younger black adults about one-third are declaring themselves political independents.

Among other significant generational differences identified in these Joint Center surveys: younger adults, i.e., those born after the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, more strongly support school vouchers, are less positive toward the federal government and more in favor of devolution, are more supportive of the partial privatization of Social Security, are more pro-business, and hold more negative views toward voting than older African Americans, i.e., those born before 1950. While these and other issues show significant and growing differences, there are still many areas where blacks of all ages find considerable agreement, especially in contrast with the differences between black and white public opinion.

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Date Published: 2001

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