Abstract
Political scientists have, in recent years, uncovered substantial evidence that political
representation in the United States is influenced by gender and race, yet generally examine the
effects of gender entirely separate from the effects of race. In this paper, we examine the
agenda-setting behavior of African American female state legislatures. We find that African
American women do respond to both women’s interests and black interests. We also find that
while the sponsorship of black interest measures by African American women (or other
legislators) is not influenced by the proportion of African Americans within the
chamber,African American women are less likely to sponsor women’s interest measures in
legislatures with a relatively high proportion of women present. We conclude that because of
their focus on multiple groups, black women occupy a unique place in representation, and that
their choices are influenced by the institutional context in which they work.
2
Convention