Was Martin Luther King Jr. a Republican or Democrat?
It’s a myth pushed by conservatives today that MLK was a registered Republican. This is absolutely false. And a bit of a history lesson is needed. The parties went through a significant transformation during the Civil Rights Era. Blacks historically supported Republicans since the end of the Civil War up until the 1960’s (and to a lesser extent, the 1930’s during FDR’s New Deal). But Blacks began to shift towards the Democrats in the 1960’s primarily due to JFK and LBJ both pushing for Civil Rights. LBJ famously stated that they’d lose the South, which had consistently voted Democratic for decades. And he was right. Southern segregationist Democrats then became Republican. And the rest is history. The same Democratic & Republican parties prior to the 60’s aren’t the same Democratic & Republican parties today. In Lincoln’s day, Republicans were the liberals and Democrats were the conservatives. Today, MLK would most likely side with Democrats. But to be fair, he chose to remain non-part
A Republican: Consequently, Dr. King registered as a Republican voter in 1956. He did not give his support to the Democratic Presidential Contender, named John F. Kennedy, until 1960 despite Kennedy’s failure to vote for Civil Right’s Policy in 1957. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his support to Kennedy because, as a Senator, Kennedy had telephoned a pregnant Coretta Scott King while her husband’s life hung in the balance in a Birmingham, Alabama jail. Kennedy making sure that there was media coverage of the event causing Martin Luther King Sr. and around 100,000 African-Americans to also give their support to Senator Kennedy for President.
