The literature that explores African-American leadership has largely examined the institutional and societal factors that threaten the likelihood that African-Americans will emerge or be successful as leaders. However, in recent years, the emergence of African-Americans in key executive positions within the Fortune 500 suggests that select individuals are managing to overcome external threats to success. I argue that the social identity literature provides fresh theoretical perspectives for understanding the determinants of behavior that enable minorities to navigate institutional barriers to advancement. This literature enables the examination of leadership as a function of ingrouplout-group membership. This paper focuses on choice in identification as an antecedent of leadership attributions, and possibly, success. This is an important perspective because it enables the analysis of African Americans as members of multiple constituents groups, specifically, various work groups and political coalitions (which all nascent leaders must negotiate) and the African-American ethnicity (into which they are born and may feel some degree of duty). The role of social context is also explored.
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