FDR and the great depression had a lot if not most to do with blacks switching from the GOP to Democrat. In fact the majority of whites also became Democrats during this time. Since FDR, Eisenhower is the only Republican President to garner as much as 40% of the black vote. Nixon in 1960 received around 30% and it has gone down hill from there. But blacks are very loyal to their political party, pre FDR, they were just as loyal to the Republicans although due to the laws, a lot fewer were allowed to vote.
The view of the Democrats as being the party of social justice also has a lot to do with how blacks, hispanics and jews vote. Becoming the party of George Wallace really has nothing to do with it. Wallace by the way was a Democrat as most segregationist from the south were. But that was back when both parties had their liberal and conservative wings. I would imagine over 50% of the American populace identified themselves as Democrats during FDR's time. I haven't been able to find any stats to verify that, but it is a pretty safe assumption. The Republican Party still hasn't caught up from those days.
Are you kidding? School desegregation was first tried in the early 1960's. When I hired in and reported for work at one of the biggest industrial plants in the world, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Separation Facility Oct. 1st, 1952 there were separate water fountains, rest rooms and change houses. I had gotten totally used to seeing "White Only" signs it became a way of life at the workplace. New buildings after 1960 did not have separate accomodations for White and Black but that was the first time....at least in the south.
The whole thing was like pulling teeth but there has to be some reason why 90% of Blacks vote Democrat:
"In June 1941, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). It was the most important federal move in support of the rights of African-Americans between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The President's order stated that the federal government would not hire any person based on their race, color, creed, or national origin. The FEPC enforced the order to ban discriminatory hiring within the federal government and in corporations that received federal contracts. Millions of blacks and women achieved better jobs and better pay as a result. The war brought the race issue to the forefront. The Army and Navy had been segregated since the Civil War. But by 1940 the African-American vote had largely shifted from Republican to Democrat, and African-American leaders like Walter White of the NAACP and T. Arnold Hill of the Urban League had become recognized as part of the Roosevelt coalition. In June 1941, at the urging of A. Philip Randolph, the leading African-American trade unionist, Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Fair Employment Practice Commission and prohibiting discrimination by any government agency, including the armed forces. In practice the services, particularly the Navy and the Marines, found ways to evade this order — the Marine Corps remained all-white until 1943. In September 1942, at Eleanor's instigation, Roosevelt met with a delegation of African-American leaders, who demanded full integration into the forces, including the right to serve in combat roles and in the Navy, the Marine Corps and the United States Army Air Forces. Roosevelt agreed, but then did nothing to implement his promise. It was left to his successor, Harry S. Truman, to fully desegregate the armed forces."
