Wellesley's Wilbur Rich Invites African American Political Scientists
To Delve into Black Issues in Politics

WELLESLEY, Mass. – While Wilbur Rich doesn’t cover Barack Obama in his latest book, African American Perspectives on Political Science (Temple University Press, 2007), the recently announced candidate for president of the United States provides an opportunity to continue his discussion of the African American impact on politics.

“I, like many political analysts, was caught by surprise by his candidacy but my general comments about black presidential candidates holds,” Rich says. “The wish for a credible African American presidential candidacy is now a part of our political discourse. America has undergone a ‘sequence’ of would-be African American presidential candidates— Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell and now Obama. Interestingly, white Americans are secure enough to tell pollsters that they would vote for a qualified African American for president. This grows out of a need by some whites to eliminate race as an important element in their vote calculus.”

Obama's candidacy provides the perfect moment for African American Perspectives on Political Science, a collection of 18 essays edited by Rich, who is a professor of political science at Wellesley College. Each of the 18 chapters, two written by Rich himself, was produced expressly for the book. Through them, Rich traces a history of race being ignored and distorted in the political world.

“Professor Rich has brought together a group of talented scholars to address a critical issue in the world of American scholarship… exposing the hidden racial dimensions of politics in the United States,” says Professor William Nelson of the Ohio State University’s departments of African-American and African studies and political science.

Through their essays, African American political scientists analyze race in the realms of political mobilization and public policy-making.

“The central theme is that race matters in politics, not only nationally but internationally,” Rich writes in the introduction. “Because we do not understand race in our own politics, it makes it difficult to comprehend ethnic and racial disputes in other countries.”

Rich aims to increase our understanding of race and politics by inviting these well-respected experts to examine critical issues. Topics range from “Still at the Margins: The Persistence of Neglect of African American Issues in Political Science” to “Black Politics in Latin America” to “A Black Gender Gap? Continuity and Change in Attitudes toward Black Feminism.” One of Rich’s essays, “Presidential Leadership and the Politics of Race: Stereotypes, Symbols and Scholarship,” looks at the history of neglect of presidential responsibility in race relations.

“We need voices that will expand the scope of the presidency,” Rich says, calling upon his fellow African American scholars to help to bring about accountability and improvement of racial policies at the national level.

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 68 countries.

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