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A little less than 150 years ago, Blacks in large parts of America were just slave. They had no rights. No voices. They were mere properties of White slave owners.
While the rest of the world began to disengage from slavery, Southern states of America continued to hold on to their slaves. It ultimately led to the American Civil War of 1861-1865 started when slave states in the south decided to secede rather than accept the incoming Republican Party manifesto that opposed the expansion of slavery into U.S territories. On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that declared the freedom of all slaves in any Confederate State that did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued a second order that named the states where it applied. The war ended in 1865 but slavery continued in some areas until December 18, 1865 when the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery was ratified.
At the end of the War, the promise of 40 aces and a mule to freed slaves in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida as ordered by Maj. Gen. William Sherman were not honored. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, revoked the order and took away land that had been given to 10, 000 free slaves in Georgia and South Carolina.
After slavery was ended by Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party got whatever Black vote there was. From 1868 -1901, Southern Black Republicans elected hundreds of blacks into offices as high as the Senate, the House of Representatives amongst others.
The trouble began when the Republican Party gave in to Southern racists. When Jim Crow emerged and the Ku Klux Klan ruled the South, Republicans watched as racists rewrote laws to disenfranchise blacks. They took the black votes for granted.
The Republican Party through its policies caused the great Depression but in 1932, Hoover got more black votes than FDR. When FDR proposed the New Deal, black leaders were critical.
By 1948 election, Dewey vs. Truman, the Republican Party still won 30 -35 % of the black votes. That was significant because it was the same year that NAACP told blacks, “It is time to turn your picture of Lincoln to the wall, the debt has been paid.”
After Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy were killed, President Lyndon Johnson faced a dilemma. He could support the Civil Rights Acts and lose white southern voters or he could do the right thing and fulfill the 100-year-old promises of America. Johnson did the right thing.
Though Truman integrated the military and Republican Chief justice presided over the landmark ruling of Brown vs. Board of education that integrated school, once the Civil Rights Acts was passed, black voters began to seriously vote for the Democratic Party.
Republican Goldwater in his 1964 Presidential election deepened the divide. When Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy got George Wallace’s 1968 and Storm Thurman’s 1948 presidential election voters into the Republican ranks, blacks finally fled in doves. Still, Nixon won 32 % of black votes.
It was not a surprise that Martin Luther King Jr.’s father was a Republican. And Blacks all share the Republican concern for strong families, faith in God, and personal responsibilities. But in the last 40 years, as blacks slide towards the Democrats, the Republicans not only let them slide but also embraced more policies that further encouraged such slide away.
In the last decade an old crossroad was reached once again. Democrats have started taking black votes for granted just like Republicans did 100 years ago. What is left to be seen is if Republicans will stop complaining and do something to get black voters back. It is easy for Republicans because it has been said that though Blacks vote left they do think right.
There is no doubt that more and more blacks, for some good reasons, feel that it is time to turn the pictures of Kennedy and Johnson to the wall for the debt has been paid. But with Barack Obama on a historic run for the White House courtesy of the Democratic Party, this is precisely the wrong time to make that argument.
But as they say, tomorrow is another day.
RSS 
I would have put my weight behind Hillary as she has a more international view of the world, but I see the potential that Obama has and I believe that he too would make a good President. His brilliant rhetoric will not save the day, but it may motivate enough people in business and politics to make a real change. And Ranulfo let me make it clear, black white shit is something that no body cares for.
secondly, Bush's repute has gone down due to war on terror. I agree. But did someone think that he is the only one who ensured that there is no terror attack on USA after 9/11.
at the end, I defy Kim's Argument: "Republicans have appointed the only black justice to the Supreme Court and the first-ever black national security director and black secretary of state". It's not for color consideration that they have been given the slot, but they are the bonafied, loyal and worthy nationals of USA.
Black/white talk can never stop in this world and not in America but what matters is for both black and white to understand what they both want for America.
Black/white talk is important in shaping the American future in that gender and race have since time immemorial been central to every society’s progress.
You guys must have heard Hillary say how the democrats have accomplished what many people have been asking over the years i.e that whether an African American would ever be voted by the white to vie for the highest office in the land and if ever, a female would ever prove that she is able to become an American president.
This things do exists and they are normal to talk about solong as they are not talked about with ill intensions.
This is real life and you guys must accept that you are either black or white and because of Gods will, we are so. Let Black be black and let white be white after all we are 100% the same in all aspects of creation. Let remembering bitter history not let you think that tommorow will collapse but let slavery remain a fact of history that will help not just America but the entire world like Africa that was most affected to shape a better future.
What is happening for the last few years in the Republican camp has not got lost with the blacks. The rise of neo-conservatism is actually driven by an undercurrent of hate or the belief that they are somehow superior than other cultures and races. It has shades of the KKK in more than one ways.
However, your history is a little lacking. While many desire to say the slavery issue was the main cause of the Civil War, it was not. Several thousand Blacks freely joined the Confederacy and fought against the invading Union forces, often striking terror in the hearts of the Yankess.
That part of history has been largely ignored and in some cases, deliberately removed.
Some Southern Towns, after the war, actually erected monuments, even if small, honoring Black confederates, one of the more famous being at Arlington and constructed by a Jewish Confederate in the early 1900’s when many Civil War Veterans still existed.
Slavery, wrong and as detestable as it was, was not solely Whites owning Blacks, either. There were also Free Blacks in the South who owned slaves.
http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/00/black_confederates.html
http://www.37thtexas.org/html/BlkHist.html
http://www.ashevilletribune.com/archives/blackleader.htm
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/07/news_pf/State/In_defense_of_his_Con.shtml
http://www.rebelgray.com/blacksincombat.htm
Much to what the left tries to imply, Republicans do not cause every ill of the world.
Why I am not registered with any political party is that I am predisposed to be a Republican on several fronts, but the Republican Party we have now has lost its bearing. I don’t believe in a government that will give anyone everything. But I don’t want a government that cares not about the people but just the selected few who the government hopes will tickle down dividends to the people. I believe in limited government but the Republican Party has abandoned that and instead will get the government to intrude into a woman’s womb. They argue that it is on moral grounds to protect the life of the unborn baby. But the same party will support government killing of obsolete children by way of death penalty. I don’t get it. The Republican Party has also abandoned so many other principles I cannot recognize it. So in this election, just as I did in the last, I am hoping that the Democrats win.
If slavery is not the main cause of the Civil War please tell me what is.
The fact that some free slaves had slaves or fought for the Confederates does not minimize the horror of slaver or the guilt on White slave owners. It is like saying if there were few Jews who corroborated with the Nazis then that minimizes the horrors of the holocaust and the guilt on Nazi Germany.
The fact that this was all the concerns you have on this topic shows that the Republican Party has no answer to the larger questions raised.
I wait. And we wait.
In all the past presidential elections, who did Black people vote for? Didn’t they (100% of them) pretty much vote for a white man?
In all those past presidential elections, didn’t all white people (100%) pretty much vote for a white man?
If 90% of all white people voted for Clinton, hell would not have broken loose. Remember Al Sharpton. How many white votes did he get? Did hell break loose? Remember Jesse Jackson. How many white votes did he get? Did hell break lose?
If 90% of all white people voted for Clinton, it would have been the way it has always been. In fact, the only question would have been what happened to the missing 10%?
I don’t know why some people cannot just relax. For the first time there is a Black candidate and everyone thinks that the world is coming to an end. If Obama wins or loses, the world will remain the same. So relax. Gee!
However, your article points fingers at Republicans, largely ignoring Democrats and their misdeeds. You seem to think that Kennedy was the second great emancipator of Blacks in America. To a large degree, he obtained office by avoiding the issue, voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and only reluctantly supporting Dr. King’s call for actions in the South.
You might also find interesting how Frances Rice of the National Black Republican Association disagrees with many of your assertions of the era.
You might also find acknowledgement of the Republican Fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Bill of interest.
You ask, “If slavery is not the main cause of the Civil War please tell me what is.”
While I admit that slavery was indeed an issue, I maintain it was not the main issue. First and foremost, think a minute. If the North fought and won the Civil War over slavery, and freed the blacks, as they most certainly did, why did it take another century before descendants of the slaves and others who migrated to America were granted Civil Rights? If that was the main issue, shouldn’t it have been accomplished at the winning of the Civil War?
Before I continue, allow me to state that I do not condone and never could, or would even try to justify slavery. Please don’t misunderstand my intent as that. Exaggerating slavery just feeds White Supremacists as well as minimizing it leads to complacency. But, balance and truth must prevail.
Issues that led to the Civil War started early in the establishment of the nation. Taxation, tariffs, denial of states rights (including the issue of slavery) and more. In many regards, the political tensions were similar to today’s tensions.
You talk of slaves owned by White slaveowners, but largely ignore Free Black slaveowners with, “The fact that some free slaves had slaves or fought for the Confederates does not minimize the horror of slaver or the guilt on White slave owners.”
I agree that slavery was a horrible institution, but why are only White slaveowners held to account and Free Black slaveowners glossed over? Does the skin color of the slaveowner lessen the horror of being owned by another human? I wouldn’t think so.
If we are to condemn slavery, as it must be, all of it must be condemned.
An article exploring the claims of Black slaveowners doing so to free family members and out of benevolence you might find interesting, Black Masters: The Misunderstood Slaveowners
You analogy of Jews and Nazis is equally lacking in that some Jews did collaborate with the Nazis early on and paid a price for it. They were held accountable.
You seem to be saying that Republicans shouldn’t bother trying to court the black vote because blacks will vote for a black candidate no matter what the Republicans do. That sounds disturbingly like racism, but you don’t say a word of criticism to blacks about this practice. If black people aren’t just as disturbed by Jeremiah Wright as whites are, and won’t argue about whether Obama is suited for the job because of it (to say nothing of his total lack of experience), and divide their vote accordingly, that’s pretty disturbing indeed. Yet you don’t comment on that, and the net result is that basically you seem to be sticking your tongue out at Republicans and telling them they got what they deserved.
What, specifically, has Barack Obama ever done for black folks on a national scale? Absolutely nothing. In fact, I’m not even aware of any sensational policy he’s enacted on a local scale. Seems to me if you assume he’ll do something in the future because of the color of his skin, that’s racism.
You write: ”There is no doubt that more and more blacks, for some good reasons, feel that it is time to turn the pictures of Kennedy and Johnson to the wall for the debt has been paid.” But you don’t give any specific examples to support or explain your statement, and that’s disappointing. I, for one, find giving credit to JFK and LBJ for civil rights instead of to the black leaders who fought for and demanded them very foolish, and presidents don’t enact civil rights laws, legislators do.
In recent years, Republicans have appointed the only black justice to the Supreme Court and the first-ever black national security director and black secretary of state. Not only have blacks not shown them any love for these actions, Republicans have been attacked for putting ”Uncle Tom” candidates in place. The same attitude was shown J.C. Watts when he rose to prominence in Congress. With that reaction, why should Republicans not conclude that no matter what they do, blacks won’t vote for them. I think it’s quite possible that, had blacks given Republicans more encouragement, J.C. Watts might very well be McCain’s VP choice. As it stands, blacks are hoist with their own petard.
Seems to me you’ve got it exactly wrong. Now is the perfect time to make the argument that blacks shouldn’t give either party the impression that they’ll vote mindlessly for any black candidate. That only helps both parties to take them for granted.
It’s also quite disappointing that you don’t provide links to support your statements, such as that Republican policies caused the Great Depression. The main point of blogging is to deliver such links, not unilateral rants for purposes of personal expression. All you’re really doing is regurgitating high school history book pablum without offering anything new.