Survey of African American Portrayal in Introductory Textbooks in American Government/Politics: A Report of the APSA Standing Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession

Abstract

T his study surveys recent editions of circulating introductory texts for teaching American government0politics courses. Most of the major textbooks used for these courses utilize the traditional institutional and behavioral approaches to the study of American government, which have historically treated the African American political experience as separate from mainstream American politics; thus, relegating its discussions to a separate chapter on "civil rights" or "equal rights." Modeling our textbook reviews after the APSA Standing Committee on the Status of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgendered in the Profession~Novkov and Gossett 2007! and the non-published 2006 report to the APSA Standing Committee on the Status of Blacks in the Profession, we analyze 27 circulating introductory American government0 politics textbooks to examine to what extent African Americans are integrated into the study of American politics.

Where Are the Women? An Analysis of Gender Mainstreaming in Introductory Political Science Textbooks

“…This brings us to a second problem related to textbooks: the information in the book demonstrates to students what practitioners consider "legitimate" knowledge in the field (Wallace & Allen, 2008), which means it is important to note that what is left out of textbooks is just as important as what is put in them. What is left out sends a very clear message to students about who (white male elites) and what (institutions) are important in political science (Cassese et al, 2014).…”

A Hidden Curriculum? Examining the Gender Content in Introductory-Level Political Science Textbooks

“…Content about race, ethnicity, and sexuality often lacks substance and is confined to a single chapter -the civil rights chapter (Novkov and Gossett 2007;Olivo 2012;Wallace and Allen 2008). And the content that is present tends toward the superficial.…”

A Forgotten Minority? A Content Analysis of Asian Pacific Americans in Introductory American Government Textbooks

“…2 Although analyses of American Government textbooks abound, this is the fi rst study to analyze textbooks with regard to Asian Pacifi c Americans. The method of analyses used in this report is consistent with the survey of African Americans in similar textbooks (Wallace and Allen 2008 ) and the analysis of Latinos and Latinas (hereafter Latino/as) by the same textbooks of previous editions as the ones covered in this report ( The outline of this article is as follows. The fi rst section will review existing studies of textbooks in American Government and related fi elds.…”