Uneven Roads: An Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics / Edition 1

by Todd Shaw, Louis DeSipio, Dianne Pinderhughes, Toni-Michelle C. Travis

Overview

No other book on the market maps U.S. race and ethnic politics with the same breadth and scope as Todd Shaw, Louis DeSipio, Dianne Pinderhughes, and Toni-Michelle C. Travis's Uneven Roads; it explores when, why, and how race and ethnicity matter in U.S. politics. The book begins with an introduction to broad political racialization and the roots of modern interpretations of race and ethnicity. Historical chapters on each of the five groups identified in the U.S. Census—Native American, African American, Latino, Asian American, and White—offer an engaging narrative on race, prejudice, equal rights and opportunity up to the 1960s. Policy and social issue chapters carry the story up to the present day, providing a wide lens on topics including voting rights, political representation, education and criminal justice policies, and the immigrant experience. A final chapter on intersectionality examines how groups go beyond the boundaries of race and ethnicity to come together on matters of class, gender, and sexuality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604265446
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	11/12/2014
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Todd Shaw has appointments in both the Department of Political Science and the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He is the College of Arts and Science’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies. From 2017 to 2021, Shaw was the department chair of political science and later the interim associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the College of Arts & Sciences. He researches and teaches in the areas of African American politics, urban politics, and public policy, as well as citizen activism and social movements.

Louis De Sipio is professor of political science and professor of Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). His research interests include ethnic politics, Latino politics, immigration, naturalization, and U.S. electoral politics. He has designed and collected primary survey data that measure Latino political values, attitudes, and behaviors, and has designed and directed ethnographic research projects that added context and nuance to the survey data. De Sipio’s research has expanded the boundaries of the race and ethnic politics scholarship to inform other subfields, particularly immigration and immigrant settlement policy studies.

Dianne Pinderhughes is Rev. Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, where she is professor of political science and of Africana studies. She is author of Race and Ethnicity in Chicago Politics: A Reexamination of Pluralist Theory, and coauthor of Contested Transformation: Race, Gender and Political Leadership in 21st Century America (2016). Pinderhughes’s research addresses inequality, with a focus on racial, ethnic, and gender politics and public policy; explores the creation of American civil society institutions in the twentieth century; and analyzes their influence on the formation of voting rights policy. She served as president of the American Political Science Association from 2007 to 2008 and as president of the International Political Science Association from 2021 to 2023.

Toni-Michelle C. Travis is professor emerita of policy and government at George Mason University and a former fellow of Oxford University’s Rothermere American Institute. She has taught and conducted research on urban, racial/ethnic, and Virginia politics. She coauthor The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race and Ethnicity, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexuality, and Disability (Mc Graw Hill, 2015). Travis has served as a political analyst on Virginia and national politics.

Table of Contents

Preface
About the Authors
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction: Race as an Uneven Road
Does Race Still Matter?
Defining Race, Ethnicity, and Racism
Racial Classification, Citizenship, and Group Status
The Uneven Road of Race: Our Framework
Conclusion: The Journey Ahead
Part II: Historical Foundations
Chapter 2: Native Americans: The Road from Majority to Minority, 1500s–1970s
Native Communities in North America
Rising Tensions: Native Americans and the New United States, 1776–1830s
U.S. Federal Policy Erodes Indian Rights, 1830s
The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Slaveholding and the Fourteenth Amendment
U.S. Federal Policy: Assimilation versus Culture and Sovereignty, 1870s–1950s
Termination of Federal Support of Tribes, 1945–1950s
Civil Rights and Self-Determination, 1960s–1970s
Conclusion: A Continuing Struggle for Equal Rights
Chapter 3: The African American Political Journey, 1500s–1965
Race, Slavery, and the Origins of African Americans, 1500s–1790s
The Early American Republic and Black Political Resistance, 1770s–1865
The Antebellum Black Community and Political Resistance
The Civil War and Its Aftermath, 1860–1877
Black Politics in the Jim Crow Era, 1880–1940
The Second Reconstruction: Postwar and Civil Rights Movement Era, 1950s–1960s
Civil Rights Demonstrations and Mass Protest in the South: The Second Major Protest Cycle, 1960–1964
Conclusion: The Road to Black Politics Up to 1965
Chapter 4: The Road toward Contemporary Latino Politics, 1500s–1970s
The Road’s Colonial Beginnings, 1493–1850
Destruction of Mexican American Politics, Late 1800s
The Rebirth of Mexican American Politics, 1900–1960
From Civic Activism to Political Engagement
Differing Paths: Puerto Ricans and Cubans, 1890s–1950s
Civil Rights and Ethnic Nationalism in Latino Communities, 1960s–1970s
Conclusion: Latinos as a Pan-Ethnic Group
Chapter 5: Different and Common Asian American Roads, 1800s–1960s
The Racialization of Asian Americans
European Imperialism and Asian Emigration
Immigration and Economics before the Anti-Asian Zenith, Up to the 1870s
Early Community Formation among Asian Americans
Race, Region, and the Anti-Asian Era, 1870s–1940s
Shifts and Declines in the Anti-Asian Era, 1940s–1960s
Asian American Political Empowerment in the Civil Rights Era
The Asian American Journey Since 1965: The Model Minority and Racial Threat Myth Today
Conclusion: The Uneven Roads of Asian American Opportunity
Chapter 6: Whiteness and the Shifting Roads of Immigrant America, 1780s–1960s
Who Is White? Racial Considerations at the Time of the Founding
Large-Scale Immigration and Overcoming Ethnic Exclusion
White Identity at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era
The State and White Advantage
Conclusion: Legacies of Racial Hierarchy and the Roots of Contemporary Politics
Part III: Policy and Social Issues
Chapter 7: Voting Rights in American Life
Minority Groups and Voting Rights
The Civil Rights Movement as a Foundation for Voting Expansion
Civil Rights and Voting Rights Legislation after 1965
Redistricting and Minority Representation
The Politics behind the 2006 Early Renewal of the Voting Rights Act
The Long-Term Stability of the Voting Rights Act
Conclusion: The Role of Race in Contemporary Voting Rights
Chapter 8: Group Identity, Ideology, and Activism
Why Group Identity, Ideology, and Activism Matter
Race, Ethnicity, and Public Opinion
Race, Ethnicity, and Political Ideology: The Political Impact of Racialization
Activist Pathways to Empowerment
The Legacy of Grassroots and Civil Rights Activism
Conclusion: Mobilizing for a Changed Future
Chapter 9: Political Behavior and Representation: Minorities’ Growing Voice
Why Is the Minority Vote Important?
Minority Civic Engagement: Patterns in Participation
Minority Ideology and Partisanship: Finding a Place in the U.S. Political System
Minority Electoral Participation: Unrealized Potential to Influence Politics
Representation: Electing a Voice for Minority Interests
Conclusion: Have Minorities Overcome Political Exclusion?
Chapter 10: Education and Criminal Justice Policies: Opportunity and Alienation
Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy
Public Education: Opportunities and Detours
Race, Ethnicity, and Education Policy Outcomes
The Criminal Justice System: Barriers and Roadblocks
Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Justice Policy Outcomes
Conclusion: Public Policy Destinations
Chapter 11: Immigration Policy: The Road to Settlement and Citizenship
Immigrant Status and Numbers
Immigration Policies before 1965
The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Amendments
U.S. Immigrant Incorporation Policies
Immigration Policy in the 21st Century: Alternative Roads
Minority Communities and Minority Coalitions in the Immigration Reform Debate
Conclusion: A Turning Point for U.S. Immigration Policy
Chapter 12: Diasporic Politics and Foreign Affairs
The Growing Ease of Transnational Activity
The Roots of Contemporary Transnational Engagement: Family and Community Ties
Transnational Activity: Beyond the Immigrant Generation
U.S. Foreign Policy and Minority Communities
Conclusion: The Political Value of Transnational Politics
Chapter 13: Beyond Race: Intersections of Race, Gender, Class, and Sexual Orientation
The Still Uneven Roads of Race, Racism, and Ethnicity
The Uneven Roads of Identity Politics
Intersecting Roads: Race, Gender, Class, and Sexual Orientation
Possible Responses to Uneven Roads
Conclusion: Prospects for the Future
Index

Editorial Reviews

The biggest strength of Uneven Roads is its ambitious and long-overdue attempt at filling a gap in the textbook market where no other book takes such a long and broad look at race and ethnicity in our history.”

Anirudh V.S. Ruhil

Uneven Roads is extremely well-written and easy to understand – it introduces students to important concepts and ideas without a lot of jargon. It is also very thorough and weaves contemporary issues and current events throughout the text.”

Atiya Stokes-Brown

Uneven Roads is truly excellent. There is no doubt in my mind that this book will impact the field for many years to come. Authors Shaw, De Sipio, Pinderhughes, and Travis are all eminent scholars in political science, and the way that this book is written shows why! It is well-written, engaging, and provides the reader with thoughtful analyses of some of the most important questions in racial and ethnic politics in America.”

Alvin B. Tillery

An ideal Race and Ethnic Politics textbook… Students will learn a lot, and faculty will find it easy to design their class assignments around the material.”

Terri Jett

Uneven Roads gives a sincere, unromantic and yet nonjudgmental account of how legal and political institutions were established in ways that impacted the civil and legal status of millions of Americans. It engaged, enraged, and informed my students of the structural influences on the confusing issue of race in the United States.”

Melissa Buice

Uneven Roads is one of the few race and politics textbooks that provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the history surrounding major racial groups coupled with social and political issues related to race in the contemporary United States.”

Camille Burge