Vardeman-Winter, Jennifer2013-02-062013-02-06May 20122012-05http://hdl.handle.net/10657/ETD-UH-2012-05-458The purpose of this research is to identify how African Americans make meaning to political messages and what factors influence African Americans’ perception about political involvement. The study included 15 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with African Americans. The situational theory of publics guided the research questions, data collection, and analysis to explore the applicability of this theory in the political arena. The following research will assist public relations practitioners to design political messages tailored to African Americans. Since most of public relations academia neglects the public viewpoint, this study helps overcome the organizational bias by specifically focusing on African American publics. Furthermore, the study reveals the role public relations plays in political communication and how this area is need of further development. Understanding the perceptions of African Americans will help in the construction of political messages, and in turn warrant more political involvement from African Americans and other minority groups.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).African AmericansSituational theory of publicsPublic relations2013-02-06Thesisborn digital