Political Participation
Black Elected Officials Roster: Introduction and Overview
The Joint Center has been gathering detailed statistics on Black elected officials (BEOs) since 1970. The BEO roster data concentrates on public officials elected by the public at large at all levels of office in every state, including the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. The Joint Center does not gather data on appointed officials or on elections held by political parties among their members.
The Joint Center’s BEO rosters are of unique value. Although certain other institutions collect portions of BEO data (such as on Black mayors or Black state legislators), the Joint Center gathers data on officials at every level of government with a full range of variables, and we can integrate this material together for a period of over 30 years.
From 1970 through 1993, the BEO data gathered for each roster year was published in roster books, which included textual analysis, tables, and the full name, title, and address for each BEO. From 1970 through 1972, the roster books listed the BEOs alphabetically by name for each state. Starting with the 1973 book, the BEOs have been listed in political office categories and then alphabetically. These categories include federal, state, substate regional, county, municipal, judicial and law enforcement, and education.
In 1994, the Joint Center replaced the BEO roster books with a detailed electronic database of all the BEOs at all levels of office for each state, including the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. A BEO statistical summary, using the BEO data from the electronic database, was first published covering the years from 1994 through 1997, and then yearly through 2001.
The BEO statistical summary includes a text analysis covering the highlights of the changes for each year in number, gender, regional distribution, type of office and other characteristics of BEOs, a set of tables of mostly statistical data, and three tables with lists of BEOs in three major areas. The tables with lists of BEOs include a listing of the Black members of Congress, BEOs who are elected statewide, including state administrators and state Supreme Court justices, and Black mayors of cities over 50,000.
(1994-1997 BEO combined statistical summary available as printed publication. Click here to order)
1998 through 2001 BEO statistical summaries are available as printed publications and in PDF format. ) Click here for Publications and link to printed and PDF copies
The electronic BEO roster database has detailed codes for each position, gender, political party (when the party data is available), term expiration dates, current electoral status (newly elected, out of office, etc.), and roster years in office. For the years from 1994 on, we can generate electronic data for BEOs in office delineated by state, city, position, gender, party, and roster years in office. Click here for Black Elected Officials Roster Information, which will have detailed instructions on ordering BEO data.
The Joint Center strives to keep data on federal and state level BEOs current. The local level BEOs will tend to be less current than the federal or state level due to the much larger number of local BEOs to track throughout several thousand jurisdictions.
Since the beginning of the BEO roster, it has been used by the media, researchers, and elected officials. The US Census Bureau has relied on Joint Center BEO data for tables in the US Statistical Abstract. As the Joint Center has accumulated over thirty years of BEO data, the potential for comparisons over time is significant.