Black Americans and the Republican Party A Forgotten Legacy

By Dr. Ada Fisher - February 24th, 2006 - The North Carolina Conservative

The first black Senator was Hiram R. Revels, elected to fill the US Senate seat formerly held by Jefferson Davis. Joseph H. Rainey of S.C. became the first African-American Congressman. Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi was the first African-American elected to a full term in the US Senate. All of this was before Reconstruction. John R. Lynch is the first African-American to preside over the RNC and gave the keynote address. Edward Brooke (MA) was the first black Republican Senator post-Reconstruction, and he received the 2004 Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, a Republican president. So far 3 of the 6 elected black US Senators have been Republicans.

The northeastern part of North Carolina has lagged the rest of the state in development, in large part because the democratic agenda for this part of the state has been based on socialism and welfare. Democrats are the party of big corporations because to an overwhelming degree, it is big company socialism that has been the Democratic Party contribution to recent governance.

However small corporations are the engine of economic growth. Small corporations excel in any area where government provides infrastructure but does not try to determine which companies shall win. However small company success does require that government not burden the small business with profit destroying social programs.

We have not provided either infrastructure or a business friendly environment here in eastern Carolina. Only now is this part of the state getting any of the expressway construction that has driven business growth in the western part of the state. Investment in infrastructure has been overlooked while socialist and welfare programs have burdened government, and local business with taxes that destroy jobs.

This article deals with some of the history of the conservative roots of the black community, and recognizes that Republicans were more accepting than Democrats at championing true equality of opportunity. It is in the Republican Party that conservative blacks belong. That is true here in the Inner Banks as well.