Citation:
Platt MB. A Change Narrative of Black Agenda Setting. 2008.
Abstract:
In this paper, I introduce a new data set on how Congress recognizes and pays attention to black issues from 1947 to 1998. Using a variety of statistical tools, the exploration of this data reveals that black agenda setting is fundamentally a story about change. Over the last fifty years of the twentieth century Congress has allocated a greater share of its agenda to black issues and those issues cover a broader range of policy areas. Black Americans have progressed from a state of impoverished political exclusion to middle-class political incorporation, and the black agenda reflects that change accordingly.
