Black Political Scientist at Notre Dame Finds Persisting Racial Shortfall in Elected Officials

Dianne M. Pinderhughes, professor of political science and Africana studies at the University of Notre Dame, is coauthor of a new study appearing in the current issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, a journal published by the American Political Science Association. The study finds that despite huge gains in the number of black elected officials over the past four decades since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, blacks are still underrepresented at almost every level of elective office.

The study found that nonwhites make up 31 percent of the U.S. population but only 12 percent of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nonwhites are 12 percent of the nation’s state legislators.

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