Our History
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana, Spanish philosopher)
Twenty-Five Historically Significant Black Experiences
Historical Points of Interest
1. One of the primary reasons the Republican Party came into existence was because of its opposition to the Democrat Party’s support and promoting of The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This act repealed the Anti-Slavery Missouri Compromise Law. The Missouri Compromise was an attempt to halt the spread of slavery beyond a certain point in the Louisiana Territory. [1]
2. In 1854 at Jackson, Michigan a group of men met to form a new political party and one of the primary things that they agreed on, was their opposition to slavery and in particular the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. So while the Democratic Party was feverishly fighting to preserve slavery, the Republicans were meeting in Jackson, Michigan to destroy it. [2]
3. The first candidate the Republican selected was Col. John C. Fremont who ran against pro-slavery candidate, Democrat James Buchanan. Even though Fremont loss it is interesting to know that he was the Republicans first anti-slavery presidential candidate.[3]
4. In 1858, Republican Abraham Lincoln faced Democrat Stephen Douglas in a race for U.S. Senate in Illinois. That campaign became famous for the Lincoln-Douglas debates, with Democrat Stephen Douglas defending slavery and Republican Abraham Lincoln opposing it. [4]
5. Lincoln is quoted as saying in 1858 the following, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” And it was with this attitude that Lincoln became the Republicans first elected president, in 1860. [5]
6. Republican President Lincoln is quoted as saying the following to an Indiana Regiment: “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” [6]
7. After experiencing repeated defeats during the Civil War, Lincoln declared, “On many a defeated field there was a voice louder than the thundering of a cannon. It was the voice God, crying, “Let My People go.” We…came to believe it as a great and solemn command. [7]
8. In response to what Lincoln believed to be a divine mandate on January 1, 1863, he issued an edict we commonly call, The Emancipation Proclamation. And even though this act did not free all slaves or solves the slave problem, it led to change for the slave population in this country. (It is said that Lincoln before his death said, “The central act of my administration, and the greatest even of the nineteenth century was the Emancipation Proclamation…” [8]
9. Two of the greatest fighters for the freedom of the slaves were two Republicans by the name of Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. Lerone Bennett, Jr. the historian said this regarding these two men. “Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens educated Lincoln, and the country, to a policy of Black Emancipation.” To them, as much as to conservative Lincoln, black people owe their freedom. [9]
10. Republicans Sumner and Stevens were responsible for three (3) amendments to the Constitution which freed black people from slavery, made them citizens with all the rights of all Americans and the right to vote. They did this even though the Democrats fought to prevent them from bringing these laws to pass.
11. Thaddeus Stevens also fought to give every freed slave forty acres of land and a mule, so that slaves could take care of their families
12. The dream of forty acres and a mule was destroyed when Lincoln was killed and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, a Democrat replaced Lincoln and said of Black people, “Black people were inferior to whites and unready for equal rights. So he worked to destroy much of what Republicans had worked and fought so hard for. [10]
13. One of the greatest periods of freedom Blacks ever enjoyed in America was between 1867 and 1877. The Republican Party was responsible for this period of time, and many positive changes took place for Blacks during the time of the enforcement of a series of measures called, Reconstruction Acts. W.E. B. Dubois called this period the, “Mystic Years.” [11]
14. Here are but a few things that happen during the Reconstruction period. A. Hiram Rhodes Revels (Republican) became the first Black in congress, holding the position of U.S. Senator B. Republican Joseph H. Rainey from South Carolina became the first member of the U.S. House of Representatives C. In 1875, Blanche Kelso Bruce of Mississippi was elected to U.S. Senate, the first black to serve a full term in the Senate. In 1871, he was appointed by Republican President James A. Garfield as Registrar of the U.S. Treasury.
15. During the Republican supported period called, Reconstruction, blacks held state offices throughout the South, they were superintendents of education. Black and White children went to school together, interracial marriages were common and we didn’t ride on the back of the bus. Black colleges like Howard, Fisk and Morehouse came into being. [12]
16. The Democrats never accepted the Reconstruction Period, as the last word and they went about to take all these advancements back, through groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Most klans men were Democrats. Lerone Bennett, Jr. says this about how the Democrats went about destroying the Reconstruction period. “By stealth and murder, by economic intimidation and political assassinations, by whippings and mamings, cuttings and shootings, by the knife, by the rope, by the whip. By the political use of terror, by the braining of the baby in its mothers arms, the slaying of the husband at his wife’s feet, the raping of the wife before her husbands’ eves. By fear….In every state, Democrats attempted to control the votes of their late slaves…and the Democrats succeeded in destroying the greatest time of freedom Blacks ever enjoyed in America.” [13]
17. The great Black Republican abolitionist Frederick Douglass had this to say about the Democratic Party, “…Sir, it is evident that there is in this country a purely slavery party- a party which exists for no other earthly purpose than to promote the interests of slavery….For the present, the best representative of the slavery party in politics is the Democratic party.” [14]
18. During the rebirth of the Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s the overwhelming number of governors who stood in their respective school doors to block blacks from attending their schools were Democrats such as, Alabama Democratic Governor George Wallace, who stood in the schoolhouse door, Georgia Democratic Governor Lester Maddox stood in his restaurant door with a pistol on his hip and men with ax handles stood behind him to block blacks from coming into his business, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett declared he would stand against federal laws regarding integration, and then there is Arkansas Governor OrvalFaubus who sent his national guard to prevent black children from entering Arkansas schools. [15]
19. On September 25, 1957, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a record breaking time of a little over three weeks sent federal troops to Arkansas to ensure the safety of black children who were integrating Arkansas schools. [16]
20. The passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would not have been possible without the strong cohesive support of the Republican. In fact, all Southern Democrats voted against the Civil Rights Act, including Al Gore, Sr. though President Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat he couldn’t get enough votes from his own party to pass civil rights laws, he needed the help of a willing Republican majority.
21. It is reported that over 4000 Ku Klux Klan killings took place during the terrible time of their reign of terror, but a better plan has been developed which eliminates over 400,000 black people every year, this plan has been so effective until Hispanics now out number Blacks in America. This effective gift of genocide comes from the Democratic Party supported practice called, Abortion. [17]
22. HIV and Aids is at epidemic levels in our community, and much of this increase can be linked to the rise of homosexual behavior in our community, yet the Democratic party is a strong supporter of the Homosexual agenda. Polls have shown that the majority of Blacks do not support the gay agenda.
23. During the Reagan, Bush years of the 80’s the Black middle class grew faster and larger than at anytime in America’s history. When the tide rises all ships rise with it.
24. On July 7, 2000 a story appeared in The Detroit News, which stated that the Black middle class loss ground during the Clinton years. University of Michigan Researchers did the research for this story.
25. The majority of African American parents have said they favor schools of choice, yet the Democratic Party repeatedly blocks any attempt to bring this desire of Black parents to fruition. The Republican support schools of choice and vouchers