Thread by @blackrepublican

Why African Americans left the Republican Party

"This decline can be attributed to a general upswing in Lily-White challenges across the South – initiated with President Herbert Hoover’s blessing ."
broadstreet.blog/2020/09/14/the…

Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, and Alabama

Part II - Southern Republican Party Politics at the State Level

"In four former Confederate states, the Lily-White movement not only succeeded in taking control of the local Republican party organization but subsequently used ...

... this control to exclude blacks from participating in the party either entirely (North Carolina and Alabama) or nearly so (Virginia and Texas)."
(Cc: @ChrisALadd @CharlesMBlow @princellasmith @RosyShepherdess @bpmgrod @SonnieJohnson @AlsoACarpenter @KevinMKruse @drantbradley )

Republican Politics and the American South, 1865–1968

"The path toward Lily-White control, and the subsequent nature of white rule in the state GOP, was dependent (at least in part) on the unique historical context in each state."

"For example, in Virginia, black Republicans were excluded from the party much earlier than in most other states. Local party leaders consistently kept black representation at national conventions close to zero, ...

... and even criticized the local Democratic Party for becoming the "black party" during the New Deal era."

In #Texas, the Lily-White Movement was a response to a black man – Norris Wright Cuney – controlling the state party organization in the 1880s and 1890s ...

"After the end of Cuney’s rule, Lily-Whites took control of the party and expelled nearly all blacks from participation in state and national conventions."

Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865–1968

cambridge.org/core/books/rep…

"He came in and took possession and shut the door on the Anglo-African, but the original Republicans are coming back in spite of the “Hog Combine,” believing what is good for the white man is good for the negro with equal intelligence."

-- Samuel H. Vick

25 years AFTER the Civil War.
132 years ago ...

"However, in 1888, the struggle was begun by the organization of "white Republican clubs," for the purpose of controlling the county conventions"

— Maud Cuney Hare

"In #NorthCarolina, the Lily-White [Republican] takeover followed the dramatic events of the 1898 and 1900 elections, in which extreme violence against (black) Republicans instigated the passing of new voter laws banning black participation."

amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/53…

In response, white GOP leaders explicitly banned blacks from the party organization entirely in 1902.

"Finally, in #Alabama, Lily-White control came in 1912 and resulted in a slow but consistent reduction of black delegates at the national convention until no blacks were left in the state’s national convention delegation from 1924 onwards."

The following information is intended for Republicans and "lily-white" conservatives who say, "African Americans
left The Republican Party for foodstamps and welfare" -- you are a demonic liar and the truth is not in you.

Little research exists on the GOP in the South after Reconstruction and before the 1960s. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865–1968 helps fill this knowledge gap.

cambridge.org/us/academic/su…

Using data on the race of Republican convention delegates from 1868 to 1952, the authors explore how the 'whitening' of the Republican Party affected its vote totals in the South.

Once states passed laws to disenfranchise blacks during the Jim Crow era, the Republican Party in the South performed better electorally the whiter it became.

These results are important for understanding how the GOP emerged as a competitive, and ultimately dominant, electoral party in the late-twentieth century South.

cambridge.org/us/academic/su…

“They may kick and protest up to the convention floor, but at that place their kicking will stop.”

-- William Madison McDonald Slaming The Lily White Republicans (1866-1950)

#TheBlackRepublicanWar