Robert Byrd was an oddball. He always carried the Black vote. He was also liberal bur every now and then he would do something surprising.
Back then they were told which candidates to vote for and they did it. Sort of like today still for some. Imagine any black voter voting for Trump in the 50s or 60s.
There are hardly any Blacks in WV. Then again, Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr., white trash from North Carolina, made damn sure they didn’t come to his newly-adopted state.