Republicans Have Supported Black America

As we all know by now, Howard Dean, the DNC laughingstock chairman, made some more incredibly insulting remarks about Republicans recently. In one of these, he claimed that all Republicans are white Christians. Our Democratic alter ego, Adam, is trying to support Dean’s ill-advised statement. He pulled a blank picture from Americablog to show that there are no black Republicans in Congress. So, I thought it was time for a history lesson. The following will help clear up some recent misconceptions:

Timeline of Black Republican History

1862 President Abraham Lincoln is the first president to meet with a group of black leaders

1864 The Republican National Convention makes the abolition of slavery a plank in its platform

1868 Oscar J. Dunn becomes Lieutenant Governor in Louisiana

P.B.S Pinchback and James J. Harris become the first African-American delegates to the Republican National Convention, held in Chicago

1870 Hiram R. Revels is elected to fill U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Jefferson Davis

Joseph H. Rainey, South Carolina, becomes the first African-American Congressman

Alonzo J. Ransier is elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina before being elected to the U.S. Congress in ’72

1871 Robert B. Elliot chairs South Carolina delegation to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia

1872 John R. Lynch is elected Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives; he will be elected to US Congress in 73

1875 Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi becomes the first African-American elected to a full term in US Senate

1884 John R. Lynch is the first African-American to preside over the Republican National Convention; gives the keynote address

1901 President Theordore Roosevelt invites Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House

1920 The Republican National Convention declares that African-Americans must be admitted to all state and district conventions

1954 President Dwight Eisenhower appoints J. Ernest Wilkins as Assistant Secretary of Labor

1960 Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player, endorses Nixon for President

1966 Edward W. Brooke (R-MA) is the first African-American elected to U.S. Senate by popular vote

1968 Arthur A Fletcher is appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor; he will be a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee in ’76 and appointed Chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights in ’90

1975 President Gerald Ford appoints William T. Coleman Secretary of Transportation

James B. Parsons is named Chief Judge of the US District Court in Chicago, the first African-American to hold such a position

1980 NAACP President Benjamin Hooks is invited to address the Republican National Convention

1981 President Ronald Reagan appoints Clarence Pendleton, Jr, as Chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission

1982 President Reagan appoints Clarence Thomas as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

1989 President George H.W. Bush appoints Louis Sullivan as Secretary of Health and Human Services

President Bush appoints General Colin L. Powell as Chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff

President Bush appoints Condolezza Rice as Director of the National Security Council

1990 Gary Franks is elected to US Congress (CT)

1991 President Bush appoints Clarence Thomas to U.S. Supreme Court

1998 U.S. House of Representatives elects J.C. Watts (R-OK) to be Chairman of the House Republican Conference

2001 President George W. Bush appoints General Colin L. Powell as the Secretary of State; Roderick R. Paige as the Secretary of Education; Condoleezza Rice as Advisor of the National Security Council; Alphonso Jackson as the Deputy Secretary to Housing and Urban Development; Claude Alien as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services; Leo S. Mackay, Jr, as the Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Larry D. Thompson as the Deputy Attorney General; and Stephen A. Perry as Adminstrator of General Services Adminstration

From Meckgop.com

Yes, it seems that the Republican Party should be considered the party of inclusion and tolerance.

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7 Responses to “Republicans Have Supported Black America”

  1. Adam says:

    Notice how the years start to stretch out? That’s because the slavery wedge issue went out of style and African Americans started voting Democrat. Sure, the Republicans have a history with minorities, but right now there are 39 African Americans in the House and 1 in the Senate, all Democrats. It speaks a lot about the current party trends.

    As far as Bush putting more minorities and women in his cabinet, so did Clinton before Bush came along. It’s just a great thing to do, and it’s way past time we started doing it.

  2. Big Dog says:

    No no, Clinton had some but not in the highest of places.

    Also, keep in mind that blacks are overwhelmingly registered as democrats so it stands to reason that they would run for more positions in the democratic party. Since democratic presidential candidates have gotten more than 75% of the black vote since Carter it is safe to assume they are overwhelmingly democrat.

    Also, the VOTERS put people in office. It is unlikely that the states that have republican representation that any of them would be black since most of the blacks are registered as democrats they would run as such.

    The question would be how many blacks have run for office as republicans? Alan Keyes did but you donks ate him up and spit him out. He was not a deserving black guy because he was a republican. And of course he was running against Osama, I mean Obama. And don’t give me that he did not live there crap. You have Hill the carpetbagger in New York….

  3. Adam says:

    What is with all this stuff about Keyes and Obama? It makes no sense. The Democrats’ goal is to put their person in office. Since the two are both African America, I see no point. You’ve brought it up twice in 24 hours though. You love to say “Osama, I mean Obama” and that isn’t funny at all. So if it’s not for humor, what is it?

    All I’m saying about Clinton is he placed them as well. It’s a good thing. I’d give Bush a pat on the back for it if I could get close enough. Of course, I’d have to look Republican to even get 1000 feet from him.

  4. Surfside says:

    Keyes is an idiot and a carpetbagger like Hillary. But, that’s irrelevant to the topic.

    “Abolishing slavery. Free speech. Women’s suffrage. In today’s stereotypes, none of these sounds like a typical Republican issue, yet they are stances the Republican Party, in opposition to the Democratic Party, adopted early on.” — Meckgop.com The Democratic Party was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. Many southern Dems were members of the Ku Klux Klan. (Wait. Some still are. Hold on, they claim their not anymore. Maybe they gave it up for Lent.)

    “Seventeen Blacks were elected to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate. Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels from Mississippi were the first Blacks to be elected to the U. S. senate. Bruce served a full term, while Revels only served a year and a half. All of these elected officials were Republicans. As a matter of fact, 80% of the Republican voters in the South were Black men.” — Black Excellence in World History

    Republicans proposed and passed both the 14th and the 15th Amendments. It wasn’t just regarding the “wedge issue” of slavery that the blacks embraced the Republican Party.

    FDR’s New Deal finally brought the blacks to the Democratic party (although, admittedly, not the only issue). The “modern” Democratic Party was termed the New Deal coalition. One could argue that, other than the Great Depression, black America needed these social programs more than any other group. One could also argue that dependence on these programs kept their general standard of living lower than any other ethnic group for a longer time. But, that’s an argument for another time.

    Now, general socio-economic trend of the African American has changed. Now, middle and upper class black Americans are wondering if they really want to be taxed to death for all these “handout” programs. The tides are turning.

    The fact is that Bush’s administration is more multi-ethnic than Clinton’s. However, Clinton probably had more women in higher places than Bush.

  5. Big Dog says:

    I brought up Keyes to show that a republican ran and was thrashed by the donks. You say that they wanted their man to win so that was OK. Nonetheless the party of inclusion only includes when the black is a democrat. ANd don’t think it does not matter because both candidates were black. The donks would have bashed Keyes no matter what color their own candidate was. Yes Keyes is an idiot and a carpetbagger. Hillary is a carpetbagger but no idiot. She at least carpetbagged in a state rich in electoral votes. Strange though, the donks get those anyway.

    As for the Obama Osama, that was my back handed jab at the donks Great Grand daddy Ted Kennedy. He is the inclusive democrat who mangeled Obama’s name.

    Kennedy also mangled the name of the Democrats’ new star, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, calling him “Osama bin … Osama … Obama.”

    We can excuse Teddy, he was probably bombed at the time.

  6. Surfside says:

    Sorry. Poor punctuation — should have used a comma after idiot. I would never call Hillary and idiot.

  7. Adam says:

    Ah, imagine that. I should have known it was a backdoor jab at your man Ted Kennedy.