National Black Caucus of State Legislators

The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (also known as the NBCSL) is an American political organization composed of African Americans elected to state legislatures in the United States of America and its territories.

Background

NBCSL was founded in 1977 after a group of about eighteen African American state legislators, attending the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures and perceiving that the NCSL was still "racially exclusive" at that time, decided to call for a national conference in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] About ninety African American state legislators attended. The first president was Michigan state representative Matthew McNeely.[2][3] The organization has grown to more than six hundred members by 2008. Legislators of this organization come from 44 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.

Since its inception, NBCSL has met annually in a pre-determined host state for its Annual Legislative Conference. [1] Throughout the year, NBCSL sponsors policy symposia to keep members abreast of growing policy trends and educated on policy issues that affect NBCSL’s constituents. When legislators attend the Annual Legislative Conference, policy committees meet and discuss policy resolutions, drawing upon information presented in the symposia, that are voted up or down by the membership. These resolutions become the policy position of the organization. Legislators, corporate partners, and labor representatives take these policy resolutions and use them to influence public policy in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill.

Mission

The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is a membership association representing more than 600 African American state legislators from 42 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. NBCSL members represent more than 50 million Americans of various racial backgrounds. NBCSL monitors federal and state activity and provides this information to its members through policy symposiums and conferences. Each year, NBCSL members pass policy resolutions that directly impact federal and state policy. The organization focuses on issues that directly impact US domestic policy and is committed to policies that positively affect all Americans.

The primary mission of the NBCSL is to develop, conduct, and promote educational, research, and training programs designed to enhance the effectiveness of its members, as they consider legislation and issues of public policy which impact, either directly or indirectly, upon the general welfare of African American constituents within their respective jurisdictions.

Objectives

The NBCSL has adopted the following fundamental objectives:

NBCSL Policy Committees

NBCSL Task Force

Executive Officers

Representative Joe Armstrong (TN), President

Senator Catherine Pugh (MD), President-Elect

Representative Ulysses Jones (TN), 1st Vice President

Representative Thaddues Kirkland (PA), 2nd Vice President

Senator Kay Patterson (SC), Secretary

Representative Juanita Head Walton (MO), Recording Secretary

Representative Charlie Brown (IN), Financial Secretary

Senator Rodger M. Smitherman (AL), Treasurer

Senator Hillman Terome Frazier (MS), Parliamentarian

Representative Annette Polly Williams (WI), Chaplain

State Legislative Black Caucuses

  • Alabama Legislative House & Senate Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Laura Hall
  • Arizona Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Leah Landrum Taylor
  • Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Kevin Goss
Chairperson: Holly Mitchell
Chairperson: Margaret Rose Henry
  • Florida Conference of Black Legislators[4]
Chairperson: Alan B. Williams
  • Georgia Legislative Black Caucus[5]
Chairperson: Representative Stan Watson
Chairperson: Representative Kenneth Dunkin
Chairperson: Vernon G. Smith[6]
  • Iowa Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Wayne Ford
Chairperson: Representative Barbara W. Ballard
  • Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus
Chairperson: Senator Gerald A. Neal
Chairperson: Delegate Aisha Braveboy
Chairperson: Representative John Bowman
  • Legislative Black Caucus (Virgin Islands)
Chairperson: Senator Usie Richards
  • Legislative Black and Hispanic Caucus (Wisconsin)
Chairperson: Senator Lena Taylor
  • Legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Minnie Gonzalez
Chairperson: Representative Juan A. LaFonta
  • Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Willie-Mae Allen
  • Michigan Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Michael C. Murphy
  • Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Senator Kenneth Wayne Jones
  • Nevada Legislative Black Caucus
  • New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Senator Ronald L. Rice
  • New York Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat
  • North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Beverly Earle
Chairperson: Representative Barbara A. Sykes
  • Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Anastasia A. Pittman
Chairperson: Representative Thaddeus Kirkland
  • Rhode Island Minority Legislator/Leadership Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Joseph S. Almeida
  • South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative David Mack
  • Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Johnny Shaw
  • Texas Legislative Black Caucus
Chairperson: Representative Senfronia Thompson
Chairperson: Delegate Dwight Jones

External links

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Tyson King-Meadows, Thomas F. Schaller, Devolution and Black State Legislators: Challenges and Choices in the Twenty-First Century (State University of New York Press, 2007), ISBN 978-0791467305, pp. 194-95, 202 & passim. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  2. Nina Mjagkij, Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations (Taylor & Francis, 2003), ISBN 978-0203801192, p. 358. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  3. "Black Political Caucus Aims at Political Clout", Pittsburgh Press, November 19, 1977.
  4. Florida Legislative Black Caucus - Home
  5. Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Inc
  6. http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/iblc_index.html/
  7. Welcome to the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Website
  8. Untitled Document