BOTTOMLANDS: Surprising History of CoMo-Boone County Republicans

From Our Black Children: A History of Race Relations in Columbia by MU grad student Jason Jindrich

Part 5 of our series

The new US President, Barack Obama, is both black and a Democrat.

But in Boone County at the turn of the century, the Republican party was the political party of disenfranchised African-Americans, whose appearance at the polls ruffled the racist feathers of the county's mostly Democratic citizens.

Dominant Democrats?

"The Democratic Party had become the dominant political party in America in the 1820s. In May 1854, in response to the strong pro-slavery positions of the Democrats, several anti-slavery Members of Congress formed an anti-slavery party – the Republican Party," writes David Barton in The History of Black Voting Rights. "It was founded on extending the principles of equality originally set forth in the governing documents of the Republic."

Columbia Presbyterian minister, avowed Social Darwinist, and paternalistic racist William Wilson Elwang set the tone locally. Ascribing a host of social ills to African-Americans, he saw "the enfranchisement of the Negro" at the ballot box an "immediate threat to society."

His words were harsh and shocking.

"This writer’s vote in school and bond-issue elections, not to speak of great national and international party policies, like the tariff and the money standard, has been nullified more than once by a big 'buck nigger' who followed him at the polls." (Elwang 1904, 61)

As late as 1930, a study showed that White Columbia still had strong reservations about voting with Black Columbia., though both communities had settled the area together. The study also showed that "there seems to have been a tension in the community between the Democratic Party affiliations of the town...complicated greatly by the presence of a significant Republican Black population," Jindrich writes.

Republicans Rising

"Because Columbia lacked a Republican candidate for most local offices including the mayor, the effect was disenfranchisement of all Republican voters during off year elections. When a national election finally allowed Republicans an opportunity to vote, they often went to extreme measures to ensure a significant presence.

"The Republican sympathizing manager of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe factory provided transportation to and from the polls and paid employees for time spent voting. The only election where this offer was not made was during a city election that featured only Democrats on the ticket.

"During close election years, similar efforts were made to mobilize as much of the Black vote as possible with the assumption that they all would vote Republican."

 

READ PART SIX