Florida Assembly of Black Republicans

 
I Am a Republican Because . . .

I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person's dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

I BELIEVEin equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.

I BELIEVEfree enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

I BELIEVEgovernment must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.

I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.

I BELIEVEAmericans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.

I BELIEVEAmericans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.

Finally, I BELIEVE the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government. 


Leading the Way on Issues for African Americans
THE  REPUBLICAN PARTY


Did you know...

• The formation of the Republican party lay in the opposition to slavery

• Republicans dealt the death blow to slavery with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and 
the passage, by a Republican Congress, of the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery.             

• Republicans passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 recognizing blacks as U.S. citizens.

• Republicans proposed the 14th Amendment, which became part of the Constitution in 1868

Republicans proposed and passed the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights regardless of race, creed or previous condition of servitude. 

From the beginning  Abolishing slavery. Free speech. Women's suffrage. In today's stereotypes, none of these sounds like a typical Republican issue, yet they are stances of the Republican Party yesterday and today.










Timeline of African-American Republican History 


1862 - Lincoln is the first president to meet with a group of Black leaders


1864 - The Republican National Convention makes the abolition of slavery a plank in its platform


1868 - Oscar J. Dunn becomes Lieutenant Governor in Louisiana


1870 - Hiram R. Revels becomes the first African American Senator; elected to fill US Senate seat formerly held by  Jefferson Davis
          - Joseph H. Rainey, South Carolina, becomes the first African - American Congressman 
          - Alonzo J. Ransier is elected to the US Congress



1875 - Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi becomes the first African-American elected to a full term in US Senate


1884 - John R. Lynch is the frist African-American to preside over the Republican National Convention; gives the keynote address


1954 - President Eisenhower appoints J. Ernest Wilkins as Assistant Secretary of Labor


1960 - Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player, endorses Nixon for President


1966 - Edward Brooks (MA) is the first African-American elected to US Senate by popular vote


1968 - Arthur A. Fletcher is appointed Assistant Secretary of Labor; he will be a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee in '76 and appointed Chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights in '90


1975 - President Ford appoints William T. Coleman Secretary of Transportation


1981 - President Reagan appoints Clarence Pendleton Jr. as Chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission


1982 - President Reagan appoints Clarence Thomas as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission


1989 - President Bush appoints Louis Sullivan as Secretary of Health and Human Services
        - President Bush appoints General Colin Powell as Chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff
        - President Bush appoint Condoleeza Rice as Director of Soviet and Eastern European affairs with the National Security Council

1991 - President Bush appoints Clarence Thomas to US Supreme Court



1998 - House of Representative elects J.C. Watts (OK) to be Chairman of the House of Representatives


2001 - President George W. Bush appoints General Colin Powell as the Secretary of State; Roderick R. Page as the Secretary of Education; Condoleezza Rice as Advisor of the National Security Council; Claude Allen as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services


2002 - For the first time in history, Black Republicans hold the Lieutenant Governor position in two states at the same time, Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (MD) and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Bradley (OH); six African Americans were elected to state-wide offices


2004 - President George W. Bush appoints Alphonso Jackson as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development


2009 - Republican National Committee chooses first black Chairman, Michael S. Steele, former Maryland Lt. Gov.