Stolen Representation - Black Disfranchisement State Legislative Politics in American South

In the decades after Reconstruction, African Americans were systematically removed from the electorate in the American South using tools such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Stolen Representation draws on significant amounts of new historical data to explore how these tools of Black disfranchisement shaped state legislative politics in the American South. The book draws on contemporary scholarship to develop theoretical arguments for how disfranchisement plausibly affected roll-call voting, committee assignments, and policymaking activity in southern state legislatures, and uses rich data on each of these areas to demonstrate disfranchisement's profound effects. By analyzing state legislative data and drawing on historical sources to help characterize the nature of politics in each state in the period around disfranchisement, Olson offers a nuanced, context-driven exploration of disfranchisement's effects, making a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between racial discrimination at the ballot box and public policymaking in the United States.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Black disfranchisement and legislative politics; 3. State legislative politics in the post-reconstructive South; 4. Destroying the Republican Party: Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee; 5. Early Deep South disfranchisement: Mississippi and South Carolina; 6. Post-populism disfranchisement: Alabama and Louisana; 7. Limited effects: Arkansas, Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky; 8. Conclusion.

About the author

Michael P. Olson is Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of numerous articles on American legislative and electoral politics, and has been published in outlets such as the American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics.

Product details

• Authors: Michael P. Olson, Michael P. (Washington University in St. Lo Olson
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 31.12.2025
• EAN: 9781009700238
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0970023-8
• No. of pages: 290
• Series: Cambridge Studies in American Legislatures
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / General, Politics & government, United States of America, USA, Politics and government, Central Southern States, US South, Parliamentary and legislative practice, Elections and referenda / suffrage, Racism and racial discrimination / Anti-racism, Political structures / systems: democracy