In both social and traditional media, some conservatives have been quick to point out that slavery, segregation, the KKK and Jim Crow were all Democrat-supported institutions. While not technically untrue, a large piece of historical context is intentionally left out in order to imply that Democrats are the party of racists. What none of these writers or meme-sharers include is that the United States’ two major parties experienced a major platform shift during the 20th century.
So how did the Republican Party go from Abraham Lincoln, emancipator of slaves, to Donald Trump, champion of birther-ism conspiracies, and the Democratic Party go from Jefferson Davis, president of the confederacy, to Barak Obama, the first Black president?
Hop in the DeLorean and take a trip back in time with us.
Post-Civil War, the Republican political machine in the North offered Black people opportunities for political and civic engagement. Between that and loyalty to the party of Lincoln, most Black people supported the Republican Party. But the first shift came under Republican President Herbert Hoover, according to the House of Representatives History, Art and Archives. Economic woes hit Black workers and communities harder than most before and during the Great Depression.
When Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, his New Deal gave tangible help to struggling Black communities. Don’t get us wrong: The New Deal still benefited white people more than people of color, but it was more than Hoover had provided. And in the midst of this, Black politicians who opposed the established Republican political machine began running on the Democratic ticket to get their foot in the door and promote community-oriented platforms. So Black voters’ allegiance to the GOP loosened.
According to Andrew Gelman, in a paper published through Columbia University, northern Democrats began showing interest in civil rights in the 1940s while the South shifted toward an increasingly conservative Republican Party. The first great rift in the Democratic Party happened in 1948 when Harry Truman, a Southern Democrat, presented a pro-civil rights platform at the party’s convention, according to History.com. A faction of staunch civil rights opponents walked out of the convention. These Dixiecrats marked the first fracture in the South’s hold on the Democratic Party.
Also a Southern Democrat, Lyndon B. Johnson said, after signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.” More white, southern Democrats voted Republican in protest. And Republican Richard Nixon employed a “Southern strategy,” according to History.com, that specifically appealed to “the racism of southern white voters.” Through the 1960s into the 1980s, the political parties experienced a platform realignment that resulted in a virtual switch.
When someone touts that Democrats supported slavery or founded the KKK or fought integration, remember times have changed and so have the parties. Neither party is filled with perfect saints — nor irredeemable devils. Racists are not limited to one political affiliation, socio-economic status, geographical region or belief system. But the modern Republican Party has made racists feel very at home among its ranks, when really, bigots shouldn’t be welcomed anywhere.
