UDC Forum

Join us as we discuss Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors. My guest is Dr. Sharon Wright Austin, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Dr. Austin received a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1993. Her teaching interests are in American Government, Urban Politics, and African American Politics, and her research interests are in African American mayoral elections, African Political Black Girl Magic explores black women’s experiences as mayors in American cities. The editor and contributors to this comprehensive volume examine black female mayoral campaigns and elections where race and gender are a factor—and where deracialized campaigns have garnered candidate support from white, Hispanic, and Asian American voters. Chapters also consider how Black female mayors govern, from discussions of their pursuit of economic growth and how they use their power to enact positive reforms to the challenges they face that inhibit their abilities to cater to neglected communities. Contributors: Andrea Benjamin, Nadia E. Brown, Pearl K. Dowe, Christina Greer, Precious Hall, Valerie C. Johnson, Yolanda Jones, Lauren King, Angela K. Lewis-Maddox, Minion K.C. Morrison, Marcella Mulholland, Stephanie A. Pink-Harper, Kelly Briana Richardson, Emmitt Y. Riley, III, Ashley Robertson Preston, Taisha Saintil, Jamil Scott, Fatemeh Shafiei, James Lance Taylor, LaRaven Temoney, Linda Trautman, and the editor