A Black/Non-Black Theory of African-American Partisanship: Hostility, Racial Consciousness and the Republican Party Page: 5
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such as Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Baldwin
eloquently wrote of the dichotomy that it is to be both black and American. They wrote
of a world in which no matter your potential, skills, and accomplishments, a black was
always seen as black first, a person second, and an American third. America has matured
considerably since the Harlem Renaissance and the perceptions and realities we live have
likewise progressed. Nonetheless, in this dissertation, I postulate that black
consciousness, as a political construct is just as strong today as ever.
The second half of my thesis is that the party system, and since the 1960s, the
Republican Party, treated blacks much differently than other groups in the electorate.
Besides all the extra hurdles needed just to achieve suffrage, blacks existed in party
system that did not want them. Even after winning suffrage with the 15th Amendment,
blacks had to contend with a party system designed to nullify their legal right to
participate. Parties were most responsible for keeping blacks away from meaningful
participation. As if that was not enough, in the 1960s the party system realigned over the
question of race and not necessarily for the better as Republicans moved away from
support for civil rights in order to profit in the South.
In this dissertation, I use consciousness to underline the idea that blacks, for better
or worse, share a common political thought and act in concert to achieve political and
social goals. Consciousness refers to a feeling of solidarity among black Americans. It is
that classic Du Bois's (1903) concept of blackness, that feeling of"twoness-an American,
a Negro, two souls, two thoughts... [who] wishes to make it possible to be both a Negro
and an American..." This line of reasoning has not dissipated over time, such as
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King, Marvin. A Black/Non-Black Theory of African-American Partisanship: Hostility, Racial Consciousness and the Republican Party, dissertation, May 2006; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5264/m1/16/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .