How did Ike do among Southern Blacks in 1956?

[RINO Tom]

I do recall seeing one time that Southern Blacks remained more Republican for longer than Northern Blacks (who, as a group, did not support any GOP Presidential nominee after Hoover in 1932).  While this makes sense given Democratic dominance in the region being directly associated with the power structure that kept them disenfranchised, it's interesting to note that by the EARLY 1960s, Black activists in the South VERY clearly saw the Democratic Party as a better vehicle for their interests.  After eight years of an ostensibly "pro-civil rights" Eisenhower Administration, this is interesting regardless of your political biases.  (I'm not saying it's without explanation, just that it's pretty interesting.)

EDIT: When you consider that Eisenhower got around 40% of the Black vote nationwide and that Northern urban areas were likely seeing Stevenson absolutely clean up with Black voters, it might actually be likely that Eisenhower won Southern Blacks.

[RINO Tom]

^ Reading through statements made by Black leaders throughout the mid-Twentieth Century, it becomes apparent that they saw their political options more or less like this:

A) Ancestral party that talks politely about race issues and doesn’t have a large segregationist wing ... but that also promotes economic policies that benefit mostly upper-middle class Whites

or

B) Historically antagonistic party that has an influential segregationist wing that it clearly caters to quite often ... but that also promotes economic policies that benefit poorer voters, now including many Black Americans

They started to think that Option B was better for the Black community, and I can’t blame them.  I’d argue the Black community’s targeted and strategic preference for national Democrats caused the shift in attitudes on civil rights for both parties, rather than any inherent shift in the parties’ rhetoric causing a huge change in Black voting habits.  In other words, the fact that Black voters largely abandoned the GOP in favor of the New Deal very clearly influenced how Republicans chose to view civil rights in general.