For starters, only a few decades ago, Southern Senators and Representaives, were ALL Dems . The KKK, though somewhat represented in a few Northern and Midwestern states, didn't firld political candidates there.
The Civil Rights Act, was ONLT passed with the help of the RR-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S , as the Dems voted against it ; including Al Gore Sr. !
The nomination, of Richard Nixon, for the presidency, of the USA, in 11968, was seconded, on T.V. yet, by a prominant, black C-O-N-S-E-R-V-A-T-I-V-E woman, from Chicago !