There are lots of reasons but, first, thanks for asking, it’s a great question.
We can discuss what happened after the Civil War and you will probably get as many different responses as there are members of FreeRepublic. I can pick things up in the 50’s and bring you forward from there.
In the deep South, in particular, segregation ran rampant. You may not recall the forced school integration that occurred in Arkansas with Gov. Faubus and Alabama with then Gov. George Wallace blocking the doors of Unversity of Alabama until he was “persuaded” by the federal troops protecting the first black kids to enter the school. That was the South that I mostly grew up in.
In those days, even public water fountains were segregated into “white only” and “black only” water fountains. When I was 4 or 5, my mom and I were in a bus station and I went to get a drink from one of the fountains. A gentleman approached my mom and told her that I was drinking out of the “black only” fountain. My mom replied that it was ok, I couldn’t read!
Attitudes like that gradually eased the racial segregation of the South, but it took decades. The 60s saw some of the most violent clashes between blacks and whites, usually following a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King. And, as blacks tried integrating white neighborhoods, it gave rise to something called “white flight” in which whites moved from those neighborhoods into other all white neighborhoods. This eventually led to a Supreme Court suit that brought busing to the South in which kids were bused from all black neighborhoods to all white schools.
It was all very ugly. At the voting booth, blacks were generally charged a “poll tax” of ~$2 so they could vote in a given election. Others were forced to take literacy tests or other means that were intended to keep them from voting. This ultimately led us to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Also, during this time, most southern states were dominated by Democrats who went out of their way to convince blacks that they were on their side. They did a good job of what I call “show ‘n tell” in presenting a facade to southern blacks of actually caring about them. History (and 20/20 hindsight) proves that the opposite was true. The Democrats gave the blacks table scraps and made them think they were getting a sumptuous meal while, at the same time, the Democrats were portraying Republicans as evil racists.
Over time, however, the demographics in the South changed a lot. More people from northern states began migrating into the South and control of the state houses eventually changed from Democrat to Republican. In addition, Hispanics from countries such as Cuba also spread across the South bringing conservative ideas with them, having experienced in Cuba the “nirvana” that the Democrats wanted. So, while more and more states changed hands to become Republican, the Democrats stepped up their rhetoric that they are the protectors of the blacks and Republicans were evil racists.
So, what has happened is that enough Republicans either migrated to the South or they saw the handwriting on the wall and switched parties. The Democrat’s “tax ‘n spend” policies were killing southern industries, many of which catered to black workers. Where the Republicans were trying to save or attract industries, the Democrats were running them off.
Today, as you have seen from the graphic, much of the South is held by Republicans. However, many southern blacks still vote hardcore Democrat, believing their rhetoric, rather than seeing the advantages the Republicans have brought right before their eyes.
But, look closely at the graphic you noted. How many of the northern Democrat strongholds today are corrupt and in financial ruin (or on the verge thereof) versus how many southern states? Ultimately, that tells you the whole story. The South after the Civil War resembled many northern Democrat strongholds today.
I grew up in segregated Indianapolis ~ that ended about 1950 when I was still a little kid, but my grandmother used to take me downtown and back and we'd sit in back of the bus with the black people, and she'd dare the drivers to bust her.
Back when her and my grandfather first moved to Naptown the KKK ran the state. The house they bought had been owned by a KKK guy and the coal box basement was filled with his KKK literature. She said she enjoyed using it to light the furnace in the mornings!
Years later I discovered the murdered girl named Madge Oberholzer had lived in our neighborhood ~ her death ignited a shock wave of public indignation that destroyed the KKK in Indiana. Later on, DC Stephenson, their former leader got out of jail and they moved him to Seymour, Indiana for his parole. My other grandmother, a staunch Republican voter, hit the ceiling on that. She didn't even believe DC should have walked out of the courtroom alive and there he was where she had to see him on the public streets.
Desegregation occurred first in the North ~ in the Midwest where it'd been as enshrined in law as it had been in the South.
That spread to the Mid-South, then the Deep South.
Along the way there were some burned out buses, murdered young people, laws changed, riots held, verbal exchanges passed around ~ and in the end the Republican and Democrat parties were forever after changed and in surprising, totally unexpected ways.
Huh? Speaking for Texas, I didn't see it that way, it wasn't yankee immigration and Cubans that turned Texas republican, it was the natural conservatism of Texas and the democrats moving left and the GOP becoming seen as more conservative.
Thank you; that makes a lot more sense to me.
“So, what has happened is that enough Republicans either migrated to the South or they saw the handwriting on the wall and switched parties.”
The conservative democrats switched parties so they could win re-election. The south changed parties, not because republicans moved south, but because the democratic party was becoming what it is today. It was the politicians that saw the light, not the southern people.
BTW I grew up in B’ham, AL, and was there during all the race riots.
You are full of dookie
The south went GOP when the dems dropped social conservatism
Not because Yankees moved in
What Yankees moving in has done is turn once conservative states like VA and NC and FL into toss ups....or like FL...lost
Mississippi has no Yankees and went GOP
Ditto..Bama Arkansas... South Carolina....Oklahoma...Tennessee too except Nashville
All went GOP trend in 70s but as someone said Carter sealed the deal
Amazing how ignorant folks are of down here
Is that supposed to be a satire?