Hanes Walton, Jr.: Architect of the Black Science of Politics by Robert C. Smith

Author:Robert C. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

In his 1988 review Walton analyzed books since 1985, essentially updating the 1985 review. In this article he focuses on the publication of textbooks, writing “The expansion in the number of textbooks suggests something of the popularity and acceptance of the new field in political science”.126 Anticipating his second textbook, Walton notes that one of the new texts (actually an edited volume) was designed not just for black politics classes but works as well as supplementary text in American government classes.127 Walton writes that this was “a breakthrough volume for those individuals who wanted to enhance the limited data on ethnic and minority groups in the standard textbooks”.128

The fourth literature review “The Pioneering Books on Black Politics in the Political Science Community, 1903–1965” traces the historical origins of the black politics field in part to the “political memoirs and reminiscences of black officeholders and essays, as well as the pamphlets of political activists”.129 Outstanding among these activist writers, he calls attention to David Walker, Henry Highland Garnett and Frederick Douglas. In what he calls the “formative years” (1903–1965) of the academic study of black politics, 92 books are identified (each of the books are listed in the article’s appendix) and classified into 13 categories. Of the 92, 17 were written by political scientists, 11 by whites and 6 by blacks.

Walton devotes a long section of this essay to a comparison of the books on Chicago black politics by Harold Gosnell and James Q. Wilson. Gosnell , a Walton mentor, was an important influence on Walton’s methodological approach to the study of politics. Walton viewed Wilson’s book Negro Politics as terribly flawed, methodologically and substantively.130 Thus, Gosnell’s book he described as “about black politics, Wilson’s book is little more than conservative propaganda … Gosnell’s book is now a classic, and rightful so; Wilson’s book is barely worth reading”.131

The last of the bibliographic essays was published in 2011; more than a decade after the APSA formally recognized and established the field. In this essay, Walton and his colleagues update the literature since 1985.132

Walton’s bibliographic studies were an important resource for black politics researchers, especially graduate students. Collectively, the book and the four essays are important building blocks in the edifice of the modern field of black politics.

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