Why, then, did blacks leave the GOP for the Democrat Party? Largely because of misinformation and misunderstanding. Were lies on the part of Democrats a part of the mix?

All of the first black Members of Congress were Republicans. Former slave-turned-abolitionist and patriotic American Frederick Douglass is reported to have said,

Frederick Douglass

I am a Republican, a black, dyed in the wool Republican, and I never intend to belong to any other party than the party of freedom and progress.

If you know history, it’s easy to understand why he said this.

• • • The 14th Amendment specifies that all Americans will have equal protection under the law. “In 1866 94 percent of GOP senators and 96 percent of GOP House members approved” the measure. Every single Democrat in Congress voted no.
    • The 15th Amendment guarantees the right to vote for every American, regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” At the time Congress passed it, there were a total of 56 congressional Democrats, and not one of them voted for it. The 15th Amendment would go on to be ratified on February 3, 1870.

from Wikipedia: An 1869 Thomas Nast cartoon supporting the Fifteenth Amendment. In the cartoon, Americans of different ancestries and ethnic backgrounds sit together at a dinner table with Columbia to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal as equal members of the American citizenry, while Uncle Sam carves a turkey.

• • • Many years later, contrary to the assumptions of many today, Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
    • Also, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 also became law largely because of Republicans.
    • Further, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican.

Many Americans simply do not know that initially and for many years, black Americans were Republicans. Eventually, however, they bolted from the Republican party en masse. Today, with an increasing number of conservative blacks courageously speaking out against being taken for granted and even  being used by Democrats, the political landscape is beginning to change.

clockwise from upper left: Jesse Lee Peterson, Brandon Tatum, Carol Swain, Candace Owens, Ken Blackwell, Star Parker, Alveda King (See below for photo credits.)

Black conservatives are extremely articulate, passionate, and effective. Perhaps this explains why leftists hate them and oppose them so thoroughly. But why did blacks leave the Republican party for the Democrat party?

Largely because of a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding.

This article explains.

Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.

top image credit: African Americans vote for the first time, as depicted in 1867 on the cover of Harper’s magazine. Engraving by Alfred R. Waud.

photo credits: Jesse Lee Peterson, Brandon Tatum (Facebook), Carol Swain (You Tube), Candace Owens, Ken Blackwell, Star Parker, Alveda King