re: #975 Slumbering Behemoth

As I understand it, and I certainly don’t have all the details, they were bitter over their defeat in the Civil War and resented the Republicans for it for a long time.

I am not sure how accurate this bit is, but I seem to recall hearing/reading that the southern states voted strictly Dem. up until the last couple of decades because of this resentment. I could look up the specifics, but I’m feeling lazy.

The legend I once heard is that Condi Rice’s father returned from the war, and tried to register Democrat. They wouldn’t let him. So he became a Republican—and so the whole family went.

Don’t know if it’s true, but it does reflect the atmosphere of the times.

Of course, the Klan was all over. There was a very active branch in Fresno when my grandfather was a child.