This is a work, a podcast from Slate.

I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

After the Civil War, the Republican Party was the first political home of African Americans.

Up until the mid 20th century, black folks were more likely to vote for the GOP, and many black

heroes were members of the party. So when did things go left? The circus

attracts clowns and the GOP has been a circus for a long time. Whatever happened to

the Black Republicans coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson, stay with us. Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else.

I'm your host, Jason Johnson, Frederick Douglas, Jackie Robinson and Ida B Wells, whether they all have in common. Well, yes,

they're all giants and black history. But they were also all members of the

Republican Party, as were many African American leaders and voters for decades after the end of the

Civil War.

In fact, more than a decade before most of us had heard of the guy named Barack Obama, a black Republican was widely thought to be the best

candidate to become the first African American president. Here's Colin Powell speaking

at the 1996 GOP Convention.

You all know that I believe in a woman's right to choose and I strongly support affirmative action.

And I was invited, and I was invited here by my party to share my views with you because we are a big enough party and big enough people to disagree on individual issues and still work together for our common goal.

We started the United States.

Now that was the late Colin Powell.

He would go on to leave the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department, but he voted for

Obama and eventually left the Republican Party altogether during the

administration of former President Donald Trump. Over the last few years

instead of elder statesmen and women like Colin Powell,

...