My good friend does a free email service called 5 Stories A Day. On Sundays, he does an editorial he calls the Milk Crate. A few weeks ago he posted a Milk Crate regarding civil rights policies and the party that backed them. Check it out and see what you guys think:
http://5storiesaday.com/2013/02/16/the-milk-crate-black-history-a-look-at-civil-rights/
Nicely written and an informative overview.
My only suggestion would have been a more thorough discussion of the major historical shifts in the constituencies and platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties. The Democratic party dominated the South for decades and Lyndon Johnson freely admitted that the party was going to lose that base by supporting federal civil rights legislation. He was correct and the Republican party seized upon that opportunity by incorporating “the southern strategy” under Nixon and Goldwater to bring about one of the largest political realignments in a century, one which still holds today.
The Democratic Party of the mid-1900’s bears little or no resemblance to the Democratic Party today. Look no further than Robert Byrd, the longest serving U.S. Senator in history. Byrd was a recruiter for the KKK in his native West Virginia back in the forties, was elected to Congress in the fifties and opposed federal civil rights legislation in the sixties. Emblematic of the policy shifts within the Democratic Party, Byrd was able to bury his political past and emerge as the highest-ranking Democratic in the Senate until his death in 2010.
Similarly, the Republican Party has done its own share of backflips to accommodate their shifting constituencies.
When looking at American political history, political party labels are virtually useless without an understanding of the massive shifts which have taken place within those parties. This ain’t your grandaddy’s Democratic Party. Or Republican Party.
Very informative and well written response. Thank you.
I thought it was also surprising that the first head of the KKK was a democrat. Also, the first movie shown in the White House was Birth of a Nation (formerly named The Clansman) which celebrated the KKK. Woodrow Wilson was president and wasn’t the best example of humanity.
Funny how this stuff gets buried and Republicans are viewed as racist, rich, stiff, etc. you’re right though, the parties aren’t the same now.
I’d like to hear opinions of this editorial if anyone had read it. I was shocked by it and am curious if others knew its contents already.