Hello! I'm a home-schooling parent who recently wrapped up a pretty lengthy unit about the Reconstruction Era with my middle school aged children.

My oldest asked an interesting question - how did the two parties 'switch' their views on race relations (or rather how did the Democrats ultimately become the party that is most closely aligned with social equality). I certainly wouldn't support the notion one party is morally 'superior' than the other and I teach no political party is inherently racist. However, I do understand the stereotype and would agree that there tends to be a stronger affinity between racial extremism and the Republican party (but that's a different topic altogether). That being said, I tried best to explain.

I know the Compromise of 1877 was also known as 'The Great Betrayal', and rightly so. This obviously created distrust with Black people all across the country and likely made them question their political allegiance to any party.

But what about after that? I know the New Deal certainly created some converts, but that's a pretty large historical gap. The Civil Rights movement was largely championed by Democratic presidents but, once again, another large gap.

What am I missing that can help explain the question?