Black Mosaic

A study of how increasing ethnic diversity among the US population affects the state of the African American identity, race, and politics.

“A welcome addition to scholarship on the politics of race and ethnicity in the United States. . . . Provides a robust and theoretically rich explanation for the boundaries of Black identity. Black Mosaic is a signal contribution and essential reading for scholars of American politics.” —Jane Junn, author of The Politics of Belonging: Race, Public Opinion, and Immigration

Historically, Black Americans have easily found common ground on political, social, and economic goals. Yet, there are signs of increasing variety of opinion among Blacks in the United States, due in large part to the influx of Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and African immigrants. In fact, the very definition of “African American” as well as who can self-identity as Black is becoming more ambiguous. Using face-to-face interviews and nationally representative survey data, Candis Watts Smith addresses the effects of this dynamic demographic change on Black identity and Black politics. Will Black newcomers recognize the inconsistencies between the American creed and American reality in the same way as those who have been in the United States for several generations? How might this recognition influence Black immigrants’ political attitudes and behaviors? Will race be a site of coalition between Black immigrants and African Americans? Should we expect African Americans’ shared sense of group identity and high sense of group consciousness to endure as ethnic diversity among the population increases? Filling a significant gap in the political science literature, Black Mosaic answers these questions and more in a groundbreaking study about the state of race, identity, and politics in an ever-changing United States.

“Smiths exceptional book provides a solid theoretical as well as an empirical road map for scholars wishing to increase their understanding of how Black Americans, Blacks from the Americas, as well as African immigrants conceptualize and think about the meaning of blackness. Black Mosaic surely will become required reading for students and scholars in the field.” —Ronald E. Brown, Associate Professor of Political Science, Wayne State University