Definition: The term "Black and Tan Coalition" has been used by historians to describe a coalition of African-American and working-class white Republicans who, at one time, played an influential role in the party's decisionmaking process.
At the time the Republican Party came on the national scene in 1856, the national Democratic Party was, as a practical matter, pro-slavery and anti-civil rights. This dynamic slowly began to change, most notably with the Democratic Party's adoption of a civil rights plank in 1948 and the civil rights initiatives of the 1960s, which were spearheaded primarily by Democrats. Republican strategists began adopting a "Southern Strategy" in 1968 to appeal to segregationist Democrats who no longer supported their party. The effort was successful; most notoriously segregationist Southern Democrats, such as senators Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, switched to the Republican Party.
But before this happened, the Republican Party was both better integrated and ambiguously progressive on civil rights issues.
At the time the Republican Party came on the national scene in 1856, the national Democratic Party was, as a practical matter, pro-slavery and anti-civil rights. This dynamic slowly began to change, most notably with the Democratic Party's adoption of a civil rights plank in 1948 and the civil rights initiatives of the 1960s, which were spearheaded primarily by Democrats. Republican strategists began adopting a "Southern Strategy" in 1968 to appeal to segregationist Democrats who no longer supported their party. The effort was successful; most notoriously segregationist Southern Democrats, such as senators Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, switched to the Republican Party.
But before this happened, the Republican Party was both better integrated and ambiguously progressive on civil rights issues.
