Racial Identity & Politics

Political science professor Andrea Y. Simpson specializes in United States politics with a focus on Black politics, gender, and social movements, particularly environmental justice. Her first book, The Tie that Binds, won the “Best Book of 1998 on Racial Identity” award from the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

Simpson has also published a book chapter on Black civil society organizations, a law journal article on environmental justice, and a path-breaking article in the International Journal of Humanities Arts and Computing on how spatial analysis is adaptable to the social sciences.

She attributes her interest in Black politics to her experiences as an activist in the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee, and participating in the last march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Contact director of media and public relations Sunni Brown at sbrown5@richmond.edu to connect with Simpson.