Does descriptive representation matter more now than in the past? A reexamination of Black faces in the mirror in a most-racial era

Abstract

We reexamine (Tate, Katherine. 2003. Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress. Princeton University Press) Black Faces in the Mirror to better understand whether the significance of descriptive representation has changed two decades after her work on this topic. Similar to (Tate, Katherine. 2003. Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress. Princeton University Press), we explore whether descriptive representation continues to be linked to substantive representation and whether this relationship has strengthened or weakened over the past quarter century. To assess this relationship, we examine whether Black Members of Congress in the 104th (1995-1996) and 116th (2019-2020) congressional sessions introduce more Black-oriented legislation. Our results demonstrate that not only do Black legislators consistently provide greater levels of co-racial legislative representation than others, but that this racial gap in substantive representation between Black and non-Black members of Congress has grown over time. Our reexamination of Tate’s work demonstrates that the significance of descriptive representation for underrepresented groups is dynamic and responds to changing racial and political contexts.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publication Date

5-9-2025

Publication Title

Politics, Groups, and Identities

Department

Politics

Additional Department

Comparative American Studies

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2025.2481574

Notes

Special Issue: Flowers for the Founders: A Contemporary Revisiting of Canonical Black Politics Scholarship

Keywords

Political representation, Descriptive representation, Legislative politics, African American politics, Congress

Language

English

Format

text

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS