LIVING IN THE

the same as the number who thought of themselves as Democrats. Blacks mostly voted Republican after the Civil War and through the early part of the 20th century.

That’s not surprising when one considers that Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president, and the white, segregationist politicians who governed Southern states in those days were Democrats. The Democratic Party didn’t welcome blacks then, and it wasn’t until 1924 that blacks were even permitted to attend Democratic conventions in any official capacity. Most blacks lived in the South, where they were mostly prevented from voting at all.

Blacks began to vote democratic as they joined labor unions.

With the advancements in manufacturing people got good paying jobs in factories. Those factories created unions. Organizations like the AFL-CIO began to structure and unionize but required that anyone that took a job must vote along union lines. The democratic platform favored unions, so any Black person that worked in a factory voted democratic like the union told them to out of fear to lose their jobs.

The Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, Black Americans, along with many other Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination into law on July 2 of that year. King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests, and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated.

Some of the largest occupational gains among black people during the decade occurred in clerical occupations, as bank tellers, bookkeepers, estimators and investigators, office machine operators, statistical clerks, and secretaries-jobs that had shown substantial growth during the 1970's.

Barak Obama became the first elected African American. Black culture dominated and Black music took over. Black athletes now lead the world in sports and Blacks are incarcerated more than any other race in America.

During the national reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s murder in 2020, a significant share of Black Americans expected the increased focus on issues of racial inequality to lead to changes that would improve the lives of Black people. Roughly a year and a half later, nearly two-thirds (64%) of all Black adults, including those who are multiracial or Hispanic, say the increased attention did not lead to such changes, and few (13%) expect Black people will achieve equality in the United States, according to the October 2021 survey.

The majorities of Black adults across a variety of demographic subgroups say the nation’s racial reckoning have not improved the lives of Black people, a smaller share of U.S. adults overall (57%) say the same. Instead, Black adults in the U.S. are less likely than U.S. adults overall to say that the increased focus on race and racial issues has led to changes that are improving the lives of Black people (31% vs. 40%).

If we are to learn anything from Juneteenth day, it is that the hard work of becoming truly free is not over. If Blacks will be free when the Black family is back together, when the Black community is robust and when the Black agenda of equality and self-preservation is accepted as a positive by society. ●