Black conservatism in the United States

Movement within conservatism among African Americans From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black conservatism in the United States is a political and social movement rooted in African-American communities that aligns largely with the American conservative movement and is part of black conservatism around the world. [1] It is often associated with the Christian right (per 2007 data).[2] Black conservatism emphasizes social conservatism, traditionalism, patriotism, capitalism, and free markets.

During the Reconstruction era, many black voters supported the Republican Party.[3] Booker T. Washington had a more conservative approach to politics in the United States while W. E. B. DuBois called for more radical change.[4] Some African Americans supported Democrat Woodrow Wilson's first presidential campaign and were betrayed by his policies once in office.[5] Under Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, during his first two terms, civil rights legislation was not passed, however, New Deal programs led to the black vote becoming more split.[6] In 1960, the Kennedy-Johnson campaign promoted civil rights as a central issue and during their administration, they passed anti-discrimination legislation, gaining the black vote. Since then, the Democratic Party has held a majority of the black votes in America,[7] although Pew Research Center polling has found that the percentage of African-Americans who identify as Democratic has declined in recent years, from 75% during Barack Obama's presidency to 67% in 2020. A 2017 sample size of 10,245 voters concluded that just 8% of African-Americans identify as Republican.[8]

Influential black Republicans in the early 21st century who have held public office include U.S. Senator Tim Scott,[9] U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas,[10] Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears,[11] and Cabinet secretaries Ben Carson,[12] Condoleezza Rice,[13] and Colin Powell.[14] Political commentators Candace Owens, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, Larry Elder, Walter Williams, and Jason L. Riley are influential figures in black conservatism.

Overview

Booker T. Washington

Elections

Alan Keyes became the first African-American candidate to run in the Republican presidential primaries in 1996, but he did not win any state's primary or caucus. Keyes ran for president again in 2000[15] and in 2008.

"Tea Party" Republican Herman Cain staged a run for the presidency in 2012. He received a brief surge of attention and popularity but withdrew before any primaries were held.[16]

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson ran for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election. He polled well for a time in late 2015, but withdrew after the first Super Tuesday.[17] Carson received 857,039 votes during the Republican primaries; this total represented 2.75% of the votes cast. He was supported by seven delegates at the Republican National Convention.[18]

African-American Republicans have not always been successful in winning elected office, including in states that are traditionally considered Republican strongholds: Herschel Walker lost the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia, Daniel Cameron lost the 2023 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Mark Robinson lost the 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election and Winsome Earle-Sears lost in the 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election.

Beliefs

One of the main characteristics of black conservatism is its emphasis on personal choice and responsibilities above socioeconomic status and institutional racism.[19][20] Black conservatives typically support do-for-self, self reliance, and personal responsibility. Black conservatives tend to be self-critical of aspects of African-American culture that they believe have created poverty and dependency.[21] John McWhorter's 2000 book Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America and Bill Cosby's 2004 "Pound Cake speech" exemplified this critique, though their authors did not strictly come from the Black conservative movement.[citation needed]

A 2007 Pew Research Center survey showed that 19% of Black Americans identified as Religious Right.[2] In 2004, though, the Pew Research Center indicated only 7% of Black Americans identified as Republican.[22]

A National Election Pool poll showed that support for California Proposition 8 (2008) (a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as an opposite-sex union) was strong among African-American voters; 70% of those interviewed in the exit poll—a higher percentage than any other racial group—stated that they voted in favor of Proposition 8.[23] Polls by both the Associated Press and CNN mirrored this data, reporting support among Black voters to be at 70%[24] and 75%,[25] respectively. African-American support was considered crucial to the Proposition's passage because African Americans made up an unusually large percentage of voters in 2008; the presence of African-American presidential candidate Barack Obama on the ballot was believed to have increased African-American voter turnout.[26]

Historical basis

From Reconstruction up until the New Deal, the black population tended to vote Republican.[27] During that period, the Republican Party—particularly in the Southern United States—was seen as more racially progressive than the Democratic Party, primarily because of the role of the Southern wing of the Democratic Party as the party of racial segregation and the Republican Party's roots in the abolitionist movement (see Dixiecrats).[citation needed]

Blacks started to shift in significant numbers to the Democrats with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt[28] and continued with the election of John F. Kennedy. Among Truman Administration officials, the publication of Henry Lee Moon's Balance of Power spurred Democratic partisan support for African-American constituencies.[29] This shift was also influenced by Herbert Hoover's practice of firing loyal African-Americans from positions within the Republican Party, in order to increase his appeal to Southern white voters.[30] This can be considered an early example of a set of Republican Party methods that were later termed the Southern Strategy.[31][better source needed]

Tim Scott
Colin Powell
Alphonso Jackson
Rod Paige
Clarence Thomas
William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.
Scott Turner
Ben Carson

Timeline of events - National African American Conservatives

Condoleezza Rice

This is a timeline of significant events in African-American history that have shaped the conservative movement in the United States.

1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s

Modern African-American conservatives

See also: List of African-American Republicans

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

South Dakota

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

  • Caleb Hanna – West Virginia State Delegate (2018–2024)
  • Jill Upson – West Virginia State Delegate (2014–2018)

Wisconsin

Wyoming

District of Columbia

Other people

United States judges

U.S. Supreme Court justices

Clarence Thomas

U.S. Court of Appeals judges

Statewide judges

U.S. District court judges

County and municipal judges

Other judges

Political commentators, authors and journalists

Candace Owens
Brandon Tatum
Harris Faulkner

Athletes

Mike Tyson
Antonio Brown

Entertainers

Kanye West
Nicki Minaj
Nick Cannon

Civil rights, pastors and activists

Military

Other

Herman Cain

Organizations

See also

References

Further reading and listening

External links

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