The black-and-tan faction was a

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

in the Republican Party in the South from the 1870s to the 1960s. It replaced the

Negro Republican Party The Negro Republican Party was one name used, in the period before the end of the Civil rights movement (1865–1896), civil rights movement, for a branch of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the Southern United States, parti ...

faction's name after the 1890s. Southern Republicans were divided into two factions: the lily-white faction, which was practically all-white, and the biracial black-and-tan faction. The former was strongest in heavily white counties. The final victory of its opponent, the lily-white faction, came in 1964. The disintegration of their influence in the Republican Party came about with the replacement of Old Right-oriented politics amidst the rise of the

New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...

under Eisenhower Republicanism.

History

In the early years of the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

, newly enfranchised Southern blacks in states including

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

enthusiastically threw overwhelming support to the Republican Party, which spearheaded the cause of ensuring their civil rights.Byarlay, Ryan (May 10, 2009)
Black and Tan Republicans
''BlackPast''. Retrieved February 16, 2022. They unified with a minority of racially tolerant Southern whites to form "black and tan" clubs.McBride, Earnest (2006)
Black and Tan Party Rule in Mississippi
''Lest We Forget''. Retrieved February 16, 2022. Within state GOPs, they clashed with

scalawag In United States history, the term scalawag (sometimes spelled scallawag or scallywag) referred to white Southerners who supported Reconstruction policies and efforts after the conclusion of the American Civil War. As with the term '' carpetb ...

s, native-born

Whiggish Whig history (or Whig historiography) is an approach to historiography that presents history as a journey from an oppressive and benighted past to a "glorious present". The present described is generally one with modern forms of liberal democracy ...

Southern whites who generally placed greater emphasis on business interests and economic expansion than safeguarding the newly secured rights of freedmen. During Reconstruction, efforts by black-and-tan Republicans in favor of racial equality drew violence from Democratic white supremacists including the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

, who resorted to violence against the early civil rights activists. Families of Southern Republicans, both black and white, were harassed by Democratic whites. The increasing decline of Southern Republicanism brought about by the rise of

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

led many white Republicans to view abandoning civil rights advocacy as the only means of maintaining significant party influence in the region, contributing to the rise of the lily-white movement which would clash with black-and-tans for decades to come. The black-and-tan faction was biracial. It sought to include most African-American voters within the party. They often took a prominent part in the national conventions of the Republican Party. One reason for the continuance of the black-and-tan faction was its effect in holding the African-American Republican vote in northern states. The black-and-tans predominated in counties with a large black population, the whites in these counties being usually Democrats. The lily-whites were mostly found in the counties where fewer blacks lived. Factionalism in Southern GOP politics between the black-and-tans and the lily-whites flared up in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

. Among the black-and-tans, Mississippi leader

Perry Wilbon Howard II Perry Wilbon Howard II (June 14, 1877 – February 1, 1961), also known as Perry Wilbon Howard, Jr., or usually Perry W. Howard, was an American attorney from Mississippi and partner of a prominent law firm in Washington, D.C. He served as the ...

advocated a nomination of

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

isolationist

Hamilton Fish III Hamilton Fish III (born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish Jr.; December 7, 1888 – January 18, 1991) was an American soldier and politician from New York State. Born into a family long active in the state, he served in t ...

for vice president on the Republican ticket to maintain GOP popularity among black voters.

Eisenhower Republicanism and the demise of black-and-tans

During the

1952 United States presidential election The 1952 United States presidential election was the 42nd quadrennial presidential election and was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, which ended 20 year ...

where factionalism once again became an intense highlight, the black-and-tan Republican delegations in the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

that year supported the nomination of

U.S. senator

Robert A. Taft Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Leade ...

over

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. This included the

delegation led by

. In contrast to Eisenhower, who testified in opposition to integrating the United States military in 1945, the strongly conservative Taft was devoted in his concern for blacks, continuously pushing civil rights measures in Congress.

B. Carroll Reece Brazilla Carroll Reece (December 22, 1889 – March 19, 1961) was an American Republican Party politician from Tennessee. He represented eastern Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives for all but six years from 1921 to 1961 ...

, a pro-civil rights Old Right congressman from

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

, predicted adamant support for Taft from Southern GOP delegations. This proved true particularly for the states of Mississippi and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, whose delegations were led by Howard and

Osro Cobb Osro Cobb (May 28, 1904 – January 18, 1996) was a Republican lawyer who worked to establish a two-party system in the US state of Arkansas. In 1926, he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Montgomery County and served as th ...

respectively. The influence of Eisenhower Republicanism over the Republican Party resulted in a dissipation of black-and-tan influence in Southern GOP politics, particularly in 1956. The surviving Black-and-tan factions lost heavily in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

with the nomination of

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

for President and practically vanished.

References

{{reflist

History

Eisenhower Republicanism and the demise of black-and-tans

See also

References

Further reading