Black Republican History

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 at his family home in Atlanta, Georgia. King's grandfather was a Baptist preacher, and his father was pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church. King earned his own Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951 and earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University in 1955. As a Baptist Minister, he was an eloquent civil rights movement leader from the mid-1950's until his death by assassination on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee where he was there to support striking sanitation workers. King registered as a Republican in 1956.

As pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, King led a black bus boycott. He and ninety others were arrested and indicted under the provisions of a law making it illegal to conspire to obstruct the operation of a business. King and several others were found guilty, but appealed their case. A Supreme Court decision in 1956 ended Alabama's segregation laws enacted by Democrats. After this success, King was made president of the newly established Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King led the 1963 March on Washington where he delivered his most famous “I Have a Dream” speech. King became a national hero as he promoted non-violent means to achieve civil rights reform. He was awarded the 1964 Noble Peace Prize for his efforts, and President Ronald Reagan made King’s birthday a national holiday.

Other notable black Republicans are (if you'd like to read about them you'll find more here):

Carter G. Woodson (1875 - 1950)
Frederick Douglass (1817 - 1895)
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875 - 1955)
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Alphonso Jackson
Rod Paige
Clarence Thomas
Michael S. Steele
Michael L. Williams
Alveda C. King
J. Kenneth Blackwell
J.C. Watts Jr
Don King
Jackie Robinson
Lynn Swann
Sammy Davis Jr (1925-1990)
Edward William Brooke, III
William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr.
Joe Celestin
Herman Cain
Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915)
A. Philip Randolph (1889 - 1979)
Harriet Tubman (1821 - 1913)
Sojourner Truth (1797 - 1883)
George Washington Carver (1860 - 1943)
Hiram Rhodes Revels (1822 – 1901)
Blanche Bruce (1841 - 1898)
Ida B. Wells (1862 - 1931)
Mary Terrell (1863 - 1954)
Thomas Sowell