The “Black” Party: How the Democratic Party Became the Political Party for African Americans
Black Americans have continued to show remarkable unity in support of the Democratic Party since the mid-19th century. It has become a behavioral norm for blacks to be deemed as Democrats, and has been rooted into American black culture. There is pressure within the black community for other blacks to identify as Democrat, otherwise one will be shed in a negative light. Is this unity a result of common fate? Are black Americans afraid to have diversity in political preference? Or is the power in numbers needed to survive as an African American in America?
Before the Democratic Party was known to be affiliated with Black Americans and more liberal ideologies, the Democratic Party was favored by many southerners that were in support of slavery and sustaining the dehumanization of blacks. This is different from modern day Democrats that tend to support the protection of civil rights, racial justice and equity. The ancestor of the Democratic Party was first named the Democratic-Republican Party, also known as the Jeffersonian Republican Party. This party later evolved during George Washington’s presidency in the 1790s with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton serving on the board. The original ideologies favored “states’ rights and a strict interpretation of the Constitution,” and also believed that, “a powerful central government posed a threat to individual liberties,” (JRank Law Library, n.d.). They viewed the U.S. as a union of individual sovereignties bounded by similar values, culture, and belief systems. The interpretation of the Constitution grew broader as the document evolved over time. The basis of their party can easily be compared to today’s belief system of the Republican Party. Republicans currently center their platform around the individual maintaining their independence and believe that, “government cannot create prosperity, though government can limit or destroy it,” (Barrasso, 2016, p.1). The Republican Party in the 21st century supports, “limited government, separation of powers, individual liberty, and the rule of law,” and while they publicly denounce racism and prejudice, it is not something that is at the top of their agenda (Barrasso, 2016, p.9). The resemblance between the modern day Republican Party and the original foundation of the Democratic Party creates uncertainty and bewilderness as to when in history these two parties ultimately switched in their values. The noticable transition of the Democratic Party slowly began as the idea of slavery created a controversial divison splitting the group into two.
There was a prominent division between the Southern Democrats and the Northern Democrats when it came to the idea of slavery in the 1850s. There was a large debate over whether “slavery should be extended into new Western territories,” and while Southern Democrats supported the protection of slavery in all territories, the Northern Democrats disagreed (History.com Editors, 2018). The Northern Democrats believed that each state “should decide for itself via popular referendum,” (History.com Editors, 2018). At the Presidential Convention in 1860 held in Charleston, South Carolina the party split was unmissable as there were two separate nominations with two unconnected platforms and belief systems. The Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, while the Southern Democrats not only nominated John C. Breckinridge, but also “adopted a pro-slevery platform,” and was listed as a “Southern Democrat '' on the ballot (Wormser, 2002). This was the same election year that Abraham Lincoln won with the newly established Republican Party as the division of Democrats created a clear path for his victory. After the Civil War, the Democratic was seen as the “white man’s party” that opposed “Radical Reconstruction and the Republican’s support of black civil and political rights,” (Wormser, 2002). While there was division in the Democratic Party, there was a separation created as well in the Republican Party between the Black-and-Tans and the Lily-Whites. The Black-and-Tans sought to keep the party inclusive and integrated,” as compared to the Lily-Whites that, “worked to turn the GOP into a whites-only party (Heersink & Jenkins, 2020). Through both peace and fraud, the Southern Democrats “controlled every Southern state,” by the 1870s (Worsmer, 2002). This is a direct correlation to the laws passed during the Jim Crow Era as the Southern Democratic legislatures continued to oppose and roll back on many Republican reforms created during the Reconstruction era in order to “enforce segregation and suppress black voting rights,” (History.com Editors, 2018). There was a prominent split between the conservative and more progessive members of the Democratic Party during the Progressive era. Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 1896, was an advocate for “ensuring social justice,” and while it was no surprise that he lost, his “advocacy of bigger government would influence the Democratic ideology going forward,” (History.com Editors, 2018).
Black disaffection of the Republican Party was a large factor and was shown within the election and during the presidency of Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover became the first Republican president to “break the Solid South'' since the Reconstruction era (Garcia, 1980, p.462). He was able to do this by using “the old lily-white southern strategy in an attempt to permanently capture the South for the G.O.P.,” (Garcia, 1980, p.462). This created a distrust as well as protests in the black community as he replaced many black Republicans in leadership positions with “respectable, business-oriented southern whites,” and attracted many white southerners to his platform even with technically Republican leadership (Garcia, 1980, p.462). Hoover’s actions caused many protest letters from “black business leaders, fraternities, churches, and educational institutions,” to express their resentment and betrayal of “traditional Republican ideals,” (Garcia, 1980, p.464). Robert R. Church, a leader of the black political machine in Memphis emphasized the “disappointment of colored people,” as well as the “Republican conspiracy against them” and sent a warning to Hoover that the southern strategy he and his administration developed would “leave the Republican Party a wreck upon the shore of the political ocean,” (Garcia, 1980, p.464). There were many anti-Hoover feelings among black Americans during this time period, while some still were convinced that both Hoover and the Republican Party were still allies. A second wave of black protests occurred as a result of Hoover’s appointing Judge John J. Parker of North Carolina to the Supreme Court (Garcia, 1980, p.465). This significance behind this decision was that the NAACP brought the attention to blacks that this was the same man who “declared the participation of the Negro in politics to be a srouce of evil and danger to both races,” (Garcia, 1980, p.466). This nomination did not go through as the Republicans were “confronted with threats from labor and from a black association that opposed the judge,” on the grounds of white supremacy (Garcia, 1980, p.467). There was a continuation of the exposure of President Hoover’s racist acts during his presidency and it opened the door to a possible shift of blacks to another political party.
Although there was rooted distrust in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Democratic Party affiliation, Herbert Hoover created a pathway for black Americans to look into the opposing party. This did not entail a shift in its entirety of the black community, a “handful endorsed and voted” for FDR, while there still was a majority that “remained loyal to Hoover and the Republican Party,” (Daphney, 2012, p.2 ). After the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency under the Democratic Party. Because of this socio-economic disaster, this led to passing of several federal relief programs, also known as the New Deal. Although blacks were not the “intended audience for these programs'' they benefited the black communities as well as new labor laws that defined a minimum wage that ended up supporting black workers (Goluboff, 2012). FDR later went on to passing “anti-lynching laws”, “long standing anti-peonange laws aimed at ending forced labor in the South,” and the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong ally to the black community (Goluboff, 2012). During the years of FDR, “black voters nationwide began leaving the Republican Party because of the growing perception that local Democratic organizations better represented their interests,” (History, Art & Archives, 2008). While blacks were entering the Democratic Party, there was rebellion from white supremacists that were beginning to leave the party.
During the Democratic Convention of 1948 there was much discussion about the modern day Democratic Party and its makeup of both African Americans and white southern Democrats. President Harry Truman of the Democratic Party took this opportunity to express a pro-civil rights platform. He spoke of his four main targets of his civil rights program, “abolition of state poll taxes in federal elections, an anti-lynching law, a permanent fair employment practices committee and desegregation of the armed forces,” (Hamby, 2008). On the last day of the convention, “the Mississippi delegation and half the Alabama contingent walked out,” and, “the rest of the South would back Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia as a protest candidate against Truman for presidential nomination,” (Hamby, 2008). President Truman two weeks later issued executive orders creating equal opportunity in the armed forces and civil service and segregationists were outraged. With the combination of FDR’s New Deal reforms that many southern Democrats did not favor because of the expansion of labor unions and federal power, along with Truman’s Civil Rights report, To Secure These Rights, it led to the “Dixiecrats” leaving to join the Republicans. Dixiecrats were former members of the Democratic Party that left to create the States’ Rights Democratic Party that believed in a “racially hierarchical, segregated society,” (Holden, 2006). The Dixiecrats consisted of members from former Confederate states such as, “South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana,” (Holden, 2006). They even nominated South Carolina’s Governor J. Strom Thurmond for their presidential nomination under their new party in response to President Truman. The Dixiecrats however failed to sustain themselves and dwindled down shortly (Democrats in Dixie, 2014).
The Presidential election of 1964 between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon B. Johnson can be considered the “last straw” in the transition of black unification under the Democratic Party. Republican candidate Goldwater “opposed civil rights legislation,” while Democratic candidate Johnson “supported civil rights,” in its most simple form (Doss, 2015). President Lyndon B. Johnson won by a landslide with “61.05 percent of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes to Sen. Barry Goldwater’s paltry 38.47 percent and 52 votes in the Electoral College,” (Sabato, 2014). The similar outcome in 1964’s electoral map is similar to the electoral outcome that we see today, with similar trends in certain states. The 1964 election was considered the race that, “produced a significant switch in both Northern and Southern party loyalties; pushed Democrats to the left; created the modern conservative GOP that took a giant step to the right with Goldwater,” (Sabato, 2014). Goldwater was able to get the white Southern votes, and his advisers told him they were essential, “ in paving the way for the "Southern Strategy that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan would use successfully in later years,” (Bates, 2014). On July 18, 1964 Garry Goldwater as the Senator in Arizona carried the weight of voting against the civil rights bill in his presidential campaign. While this was appealing to Republicans, Dixiecrats, and recent former Southern Democrats, this worked against him with the Democratic and black population. Goldwater specifically objected to, “public accommodations and employment parts of the bill,” and has called them, “an usurpation of power by the federal government,” (Rudin, 2010) He even stated, that they "require for their effective execution the creation of a police state," (Rudin, 2010). President Lyndon B. Johnson eventually signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law after his victory (Bowen, 2015). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of the biggest pieces of civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction Era as it “prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal,” (Bowen, 2015). Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a great relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, as there was mutual respect there. King wrote about his partnership with President Johnson in an article from Time that states:
“His approach to the problem of civil rights was not identical with mine—nor had I expected it to be. Yet his careful practicality was, nonetheless, clearly no mask to conceal indifference. His emotional and intellectual involvement was genuine and devoid of adornment. It was conspicuous that he was searching for a solution to a problem he knew to be a major shortcoming in American life,” (Flores, 2018).
Black civil rights leaders during this time, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also had a large influence on the black vote and the idea of black unity. The Civil Rights Movement era was a monumental time period in the 1960s led by civil rights organizations, activists, and predominantly black Americans for racial equality and against discrimination (History.com Editors, 2018, pg. 1). Leaders such as Malcom X, Roy Wilkins, Aaron Henry, Bob Moses, Tom Gaither, Ella Baker, W.E.B. Du Bois, and more were all leaders during this time to lead the unification and movement of the black struggle (Sullivan, 2020). This was a time where blacks were also fighting for equal rights in participation in government when it came to voting and voting restrictions. There was also the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a third political party who believed in voting rights for all and it was an alternative for black voters that were banned from voting for major political parties (Sullivan, 2020). This was also the time period that Fannie Lou Hamer said her famous speech, “I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired,” on December 20, 1964 (Hamer, 1964). This speech was delivered alongside Malcom X at a rally in Harlem, NY in support of the “Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's Congressional Challenge,” (Hamer, 1964). It was a time period of not only constant protest to ensure equality among black Americans, but it was a time period for black political unity.
Through the history of the shift of the black community to the Democratic Party, new definitions of this party, and political unity among the race, a new stigma has been created. To be black and a Democrat has become the new “norm” as well as the expectation. According to Pew Research, “Overall, 87% of black voters identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic, compared with just 7% who identify as Republican or lean Republican,” and this has been very stable over recent years (Pew Research, 2016). Both blacks and Hispanics have shown to have changed very little as compared to other races. Black voters do not even continue to pick Democrats due to ideology; “It isn’t because African-Americans are liberal,” (Carter, 2020). It is also interesting to note that, “a quarter of black Democrats identify as conservative, and 43 percent identify as moderate,” (White, 2020). Black Democrats can differ in ideologies, however there is still that pressure to be united. There is a social pressure from other black voters to stay loyal to the Democratic Party as it is believed to be the party that has looked out for the best interest of the black community in more recent years. In a American National Election Study (ANES) in 2012, the survey found that black respondents were more likely to report they were a Democrat when they were with a black interviewer (96.4 percent) than a nonblack interviewer (83.9 percent) or an online survey (85 percent),” (C. White, 2020). Data from the American National Election Study also produced that in the late 1960s, “the ANES data placed identification of black Americans with the Democrative Party in the neighborhood of 80 percent. It has remained in that neighborhood ever since,” (I. White, 2020, pg.3). Support for the Democratic Party has shown time and time again to be rooted in black liberation politics. Is this a result of common fate? The idea that, “a subordinated group suffer a common fate because of a social identity that they only appear to share,” (Shelby, 2002, p.247). There is also the idea of shared “ethnic and cultural identity” and the belief that, “blacks must share a collective identity in order for them to exhibit robust solidarity,” (Shelby, 2002, p.247). This sense of black solidarity and desire of black power, creates this “normative commitment” of embracing the Democratic Party, and failure to do so will result in negative judgement from the public, (Shelby, 2002, p.247).
There are black conservatives, black Republicans, and those that do not believe that the Democratic Party has supported the black community. According to a study conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, “ 8% of the black vote in 2016 was Republican,” a small percentage as compared to the 88% of Democrats, (Joint Center..., 2019). Some black conservatives believe that, “There is a pressing need for a liberalism in the North which is truly liberal, a liberalism that firmly believes in integration in its own community as well as in the Deep South,” and integration is not the answer to black problems (Delmont, 2016). Black Republicans have also said that the Democratic Party has not done much to truly help the black community. An example that was used was that, “Generations have been lost to the prison system; countless families have been torn apart or rendered homeless; and a school-to-prison pipeline has been born that shuttles young people from their decrepit, underfunded schools to brand-new high-tech prisons,” even after years of Democratic unity (Delmont, 2016). There have even been black Americans that have decided to vote Republican this election as the Democratic nominee was responsible for the 1994 Crime Bill that incarcerated a large amount of black Americans from the 1990s and are still suffering repercussions to this day (Robertson, 2020).
In response to the potential re-election of Republican Donald Trump into the presidency for a second term, the black vote has been monumental in lifting the chances of Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The black vote has given, “backbone of his support, especially in key battleground states including Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” (Evelyn, 2020). Battleground states have been flipping drastically in Biden’s favor overnight in states that were originally in Trump’s lead. As President Trump has continued to claim fraud in mail-in and early voting, he urged his voters to vote in-person on election day. Joe Biden has continued to encourage Americans to vote using any method especially in a time of a pandemic. As election day voting has continued to be a method quickly calculated through the years, the voters of Trump’s numbers appeared on the map instantly. Throughout the week, mail-in ballots have continued to transform the numbers showing great leads for Biden. The state of Georgia, which has continued to have a Republican majority for many years, has quickly changed to Democratic overnight as mail-in ballots came and surpassed these numbers. Politician Stacey Abrams is a monumental figure that has built, “a network of organizations that highlighted voter suppression and inspired an estimated 800,000 new voter registrations,” (Hakim, 2020). These new voter registrations from black voters are the sole reason why the state of Georgia now has a democratic majority today. The black vote continues to be powerful for any Democratic nominee over the past decade. It is now a question if the unification will become separation, or if that division of preference will be a threat to our black power.
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