A01=Leah Wright Rigueur
Activism
Adviser
Affirmative action
African Americans
Amendment
Americans
Appointee
Author_Leah Wright Rigueur
Ballot
Barry Goldwater
Black capitalism
Black conservatism
Black people
Black Power
Candidate
Capitalism
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Category=JPFM
Category=NHK
Chairman
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Congressional Black Caucus
Criticism
Democratic liberalism
Desegregation
Edward Brooke
Employment
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George H. W. Bush
Hostility
Howard University
Ideology
Incumbent
Individual and group rights
Legislation
Limited government
Lyndon B. Johnson
Midterm election
Minority group
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Urban League
Nelson Rockefeller
Nomination
Outreach
Party leader
Political campaign
Political party
Politician
Politics
Presidential nominee
Racial equality
Racial politics
Racial segregation
Racism
Republican National Committee
Republican National Convention
Republican Party (United States)
Republicanism
Richard Nixon
Right-wing politics
Rockefeller Republican
Ronald Reagan
Roy Wilkins
Shirley Chisholm
Silent majority
Southern strategy
Suffrage
The Chicago Defender
The New York Times
The Politician (book)
Two-party system
Unemployment
Voting
Welfare
White Southerners
Product details
- ISBN 9780691173641
- Weight: 652g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 02 Aug 2016
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Covering more than four decades of American social and political history, The Loneliness of the Black Republican examines the ideas and actions of black Republican activists, officials, and politicians, from the era of the New Deal to Ronald Reagan's presidential ascent in 1980. Their unique stories reveal African Americans fighting for an alternative economic and civil rights movement--even as the Republican Party appeared increasingly hostile to that very idea. Black party members attempted to influence the direction of conservatism--not to destroy it, but rather to expand the ideology to include black needs and interests. As racial minorities in their political party and as political minorities within their community, black Republicans occupied an irreconcilable position--they were shunned by African American communities and subordinated by the GOP. In response, black Republicans vocally, and at times viciously, critiqued members of their race and party, in an effort to shape the attitudes and public images of black citizens and the GOP.
And yet, there was also a measure of irony to black Republicans' "loneliness": at various points, factions of the Republican Party, such as the Nixon administration, instituted some of the policies and programs offered by black party members. What's more, black Republican initiatives, such as the fair housing legislation of senator Edward Brooke, sometimes garnered support from outside the Republican Party, especially among the black press, Democratic officials, and constituents of all races. Moving beyond traditional liberalism and conservatism, black Republicans sought to address African American racial experiences in a distinctly Republican way. The Loneliness of the Black Republican provides a new understanding of the interaction between African Americans and the Republican Party, and the seemingly incongruous intersection of civil rights and American conservatism.
Leah Wright Rigueur is assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
