The
National Black Caucus of State Legislators
(NBCSL)
is an American
political
organization composed of
African Americans
elected to
state legislatures
in the United States and its territories.
[1]
Background
[
edit
]
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
.
[2]
About ninety African American state legislators attended. The first president was
Michigan state representative
Matthew McNeely
.
[3]
[4]
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.
[2]
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
[
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]
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) is a membership association representing more than 700 black state legislators from 47 states,
[5]
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.
[
citation needed
]
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.
[6]
Executive officers
[
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]
Representative
Billy Mitchell (GA)
, President
[7]
Representative Laura V. Hall (AL), President-Elect
[7]
Representative
Harold M. Love Jr.
(TN), Vice President
[7]
Representative Vivian Flowers (AR), Secretary
[7]
Senator Raumesh Akbari (TN), Financial Secretary
[7]
Representative Cherish Pryor (IN), Treasurer
[7]
Senator
Gerald Neal
(KY), Parliamen
[7]
Senator
Pat Spearman (NV)
, Chaplain
[7]
State legislative black caucuses
[
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]
- Chairperson: Representative Laura Hall
- Chairperson: Representative Leah Landrum Taylor
- Chairperson: Representative Kevin Goss
- Chairperson:
Holly Mitchell
- Chairperson: Margaret Rose Henry
- Florida Conference of Black Legislators
[8]
- Chairperson:
Alan B. Williams
- Chairperson: Senator Lester G. Jackson
- Chairperson: Representative
Kenneth Dunkin
- Chairperson:
Vernon G. Smith
[10]
- Chairperson: Representative
Wayne Ford
- Chairperson: Representative Barbara W. Ballard
- Kentucky Black Legislative Caucus
- Chairperson:
Senator Gerald A. Neal
- Chairperson: Delegate Daryl Barnes
- 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 (Connecticut)
- Chairperson: Representative Christopher Rosario
- Chairperson: Representative Juan A. LaFonta
- Massachusetts Black Legislative Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Willie-Mae Allen
- Michigan Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Mayor
Sheldon Neeley
- Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Senator Kenneth Wayne Jones
- Chairperson:
Senator Ronald L. Rice
- New York Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson:
Assemblyman N. Nick Perry
- 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
Stephen Kinsey
- Rhode Island Minority Legislator/Leadership Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative
Joseph S. Almeida
- South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative
Ivory Thigpen
- Tennessee Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative Johnny Shaw
- Texas Legislative Black Caucus
- Chairperson: Representative
Senfronia Thompson
- Chairperson: Delegate Dwight Jones
References
[
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]
- ^
"National Black Caucus of State Legislators"
.
National Black Caucus of State Legislators
. Retrieved
2024-03-23
.
- ^
a
b
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
.
- ^
Nina Mjagkij,
Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations
(
Taylor & Francis
, 2003),
ISBN
978-0203801192
, p. 358.
Excerpts available
at
Google Books
.
- ^
"Black Political Caucus Aims at Political Clout"
,
Pittsburgh Press
, November 19, 1977.
- ^
Porter, Gregory.
"From the President"
.
National Black Caucus of State Legislators
. Retrieved
2 August
2017
.
- ^
"NBCSL | About Us"
.
nbcsl.org
. Retrieved
2020-05-22
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"NBCSL | Executive Committee"
.
nbcsl.org
. Retrieved
2020-05-22
.
- ^
Florida Legislative Black Caucus ? Home
Archived
August 24, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, Inc"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-07-03
. Retrieved
2008-04-26
.
- ^
"__404__"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-08-02
. Retrieved
2008-04-29
.
- ^
Welcome to the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Website
- ^
Untitled Document
Archived
August 18, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
External links
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