Routledge Trailblazing African American Public Administrators

The field of public administration holds social equity and inclusiveness as a core administrative value, but African American voices in the discourse about the theory and practice of public administration have been ignored all too often. This book is the first to formally chronicle the evolution of the field of public administration in the United States through desegregation, equal opportunity, affirmative action, diversity/multiculturalism, and presumptions about a "post-racial" society, incorporating African American contributions to public policy-making and implementation at every stage. As long as the "post-racial" America myth continues to influence the design, development, and implementation of public policies, African American perspectives need to be reconsidered as a legitimate and important focus of public administration’s theoretical and practical framework. Focusing on the lives and profound contributions of several unsung but seminal African American public administrators, accompanied by personal accounts of perseverance and detailed descriptions of unique approaches used for social change, this book demonstrates the intellectual, academic, and pragmatic evolution of these leaders as they built careers in their discipline and blazed the trail for those to come. Authors Beverly C. Edmond and Ron W. Finnell demonstrate how these pioneers extended the very definition of the enterprise of public administration through their movements between the intersecting worlds of academia, practice, social movements, and community activism. Trailblazing African American Public Administrators serves as a timely practical, social, and historical teaching text for graduate and undergraduate courses in Public Administration, Public Management, Public Affairs, and Human Resource Management. Review "Trailblazing African American Public Administrators is an important body of work in the field of public policy, public affairs, and public administration. Rightfully so, this book acknowledges the significant contributions of African American scholars and practitioners and, more importantly, chronicles ways in which African American trailblazers navigate critical issues of access and disparity in governance. In Trailblazing African American Public Administrators, these men and women are social equity thought leaders who wielded administrative discretion to create opportunities for diversity and inclusion. They set the course for America, as many were the first to discover new pathways for diversity, the first to lead in public agencies and the first to create opportunities for others. The authors of Trailblazing African American Public Administrators illustrate what responsible leadership looks like – in one source, we can discover the intricate policies, procedures, and practices that have promoted diversity and inclusion in America." – RaJade M. Berry-James, North Carolina State University About the Author Beverly C. Edmond has held numerous governmental and academic positions, and served as the first permanent Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Albany State University, Georgia, USA. Ron W. Finnell has held several senior level governmental and nonprofit management positions. He also served as Chair of the Public Administration Department and Associate Professor of Public Administration, as well as Director of the Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy at Clark Atlanta University, Georgia, USA.