Race and Representation: Evidence from the Chicago City Council

• In Event: Identity & Representation

Abstract

How do legislatures respond to demographic change? In this paper, I argue that internal legislative politics can be used to discriminate against newly emergent racial out-groups. To explore this, I take the case of the Chicago City Council during the First Great Migration. By combining original data collection on committee assignments in the Chicago City Council between 1900 and 1940 with ward-level demographic information, I explore whether and how areas that saw a significant increase in Black population share saw their representation in the legislature affected. My analysis demonstrates how, even in the absence of explicit disenfranchisement, racial out-groups can see their representation negatively impacted through discrimination in internal legislative politics.

Author

• Michael P. Olson, Washington University in St. Louis