It's really interesting to me when Conservatives/GOTPers state that "The Republican Party FREED the slaves" when they claim that they are not racist, but they fail to answer how such a rift could've taken hold in the first place.

To find out what happened, we have to go back to the "Reconstruction Era" of the latter half of the 19th Century.

Abraham Lincoln, having beaten the South in the bloodiest Civil War in our nations' history, failed, or did not pursue the prosecution of Confederate Veterans for high treason and war crimes.

Likewise, Ulysses S. Grant, although he was a prominent war hero, close friend to the de-parted Lincoln, and fought back and re-pealed the "Black Codes" of 1867 that were brought to fruition by President Andrew Johnson, he made the following errors:
1. As Commander of the Union Army, he gave considerably generous terms to effect the surrender of Confederate Troops to end the Civil War on the condition that when they returned to their homes, they would never take up arms against the United States.
2. Even though he supported the Freedman's Bureau, signed the Naturalization Act of 1870 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875, the passage of the 15th Amendment to the U.S Constitution and went out to prosecuted leaders of the KKK, Red Shirts and the White League, BOTH he and the Liberal Republicans supported amnesty for former Confederate Veterans by signing the Amnesty Act of 1872, and dramatically scaled back use of the U.S Army to quell the paramilitary uprising in Southern States during the 1876 elections.

Finally, Rutherford B. Hayes, brokered a deal with Democratic Political Leaders (the Redeemers) in the Southern States Stating that if the electorates in Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina would send their votes for him, he would do the following:
1. Add a Southern Democrat to his Cabinet.
2 Legislation to help industrialize the South.
3. Remove ALL Federal Troops from former Confederate States WITH THE CONDITION that the rights of African Americans WOULD BE PROTECTED.
To make his failure complete, a Democratic Majority led 45th Congress passed an appropriations bill for the Army with a "rider' attached that would subsequently re-peal the Force Acts.

The results and actions of these men would have dire consequences and repercussions that would span from 1865 to the 21st Century, a cumulative lifetime period covering 146 years.

It is worth mentioning that during that time, African Americans rose to prominence, and 21 sat on Congress:

Representative Party State Term Lifespan Former slave

John Willis Menard
Republican
Louisiana
1868
1838–1893
No

Joseph Rainey
Republican
South Carolina
1870–1879
1832–1887
Yes

Jefferson F. Long
Republican
Georgia
1870–1871
1836–1901
Yes

Robert C. De Large
Republican
South Carolina
1871–1873
1842–1874
No

Robert B. Elliott
Republican
South Carolina
1871–1874
1842–1884
No

Benjamin S. Turner
Republican
Alabama
1871–1873
1825–1894
Yes

Josiah T. Walls
Republican
Florida
1871–1873, 1873–1876
1842–1905
Yes

Richard H. Cain
Republican
South Carolina
1873–1875, 1877–1879
1825–1887
No

John R. Lynch
Republican
Mississippi
1873–1877, 1882–1883
1847–1939
Yes

James T. Rapier
Republican
Alabama
1873–1875
1837–1883
No

Alonzo J. Ransier
Republican
South Carolina
1873–1875
1834–1882
No

Jeremiah Haralson
Republican
Alabama
1875–1877
1846–1916
Yes

John Adams Hyman
Republican
North Carolina
1875–1877
1840–1891
Yes

Charles E. Nash
Republican
Louisiana
1875–1877
1844–1913
No

Robert Smalls
Republican
South Carolina
1875–1879, 1882–1883, 1884–1887
1839–1915
Yes

James E. O'Hara
Republican
North Carolina
1883–1887
1844–1905
No

Henry P. Cheatham
Republican
North Carolina
1889–1893
1857–1935
Yes

John Mercer Langston
Republican
Virginia
1890–1891
1829–1897
No

Thomas E. Miller
Republican
South Carolina
1890–1891
1849–1938
No

George W. Murray
Republican
South Carolina
1893–1895, 1896–1897
1853–1926
Yes

George Henry White
Republican
North Carolina
1897–1901
1852–1918
No

From 1868 until 1901, these men were systematically removed from their office, some with blatant evidence of election fraud and rampant voter intimidation, particularly among black voters of that time. Had these men stayed in office and held every Republican Presidents' feet to the fire on Civil Rights, from 1881 to 1933, things would've turned out differently for generations of African Americans to come. Instead, they did very little, if nothing at all, from making pretty speeches against lynching and mass murders, to vetoing legislation and their timid unwillingness to uphold the 14th and 15th Amendments, to defend them. To them, it was nothing but a grab for power.

It wasn't until the Great Depression and the onset of WWII that things started to turn around for the better between African Americans and the Democratic Party. In addition to the New Deal and ordering the military to allow Blacks to serve in combat units (although segregated), FDR worked more closely with the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations at the time dealing with cases of police brutality, lynching and voting rights abuses. Then another Democratic President came in. Finishing the business that his predecessor had left off when he died in office, Harry Truman was receiving wave after wave of reports on how African Americans comported themselves on the the fields of battle, be it air, land, and/or sea, and he made one of the most decisive decisions in the annals of U.S History: He signed Executive Order 9981 which virtually ENDED segregation in the Armed Forces, he signed a second one making it illegal to discriminate against a person applying for Civil Service based on race and finally one that established the Committee on Government Contract Compliance, ensuring that defense contractors to the armed forces could not discriminate against a person on account of race.

With President Eisenhower declaring racial discrimination a "National Security Issue", He is probably THE ONLY REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT that understood how serious this matter is, and the following things took place under his administration:

(1) The U.S Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown versus the Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in our public schools was unconstitutional.

(2) He signed Executive Order 10730, bringing the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control during the "Little Rock Nine" Incident.

(3) He signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, the latter putting a Civil Rights Office inside the Justice Department.

During the Sixties, a large fundamental shift was taking place inside the Republican and Democratic Parties, particularly where African Americans and Civil Rights is concerned, and although the Kennedy Administration laid out much of the groundwork, the Johnson Administration turned the tide once and for all. Here is a link to a post I have on the subject:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/12/5454862-cindy-mccain-splits-from-husband-on-dont-ask-dont-tell?commentId=19367990#c19367990. Look for Kevin-458252, comment number 351.1.

There is no further need to look into the Reagan, Bush-41 and Bush-43 administrtations, for we know all too well about them.