Changes

====As the South became less racist, it became more Republican====

====As the South became less racist, it became more Republican====

[[File:2000px-ElectoralCollege1980.png|right|thumb|325px|Reagan's 1980 landslide|By 1980, racism ebbed in the Old South as the South began voting like much of the rest of the country. Only the staunchest Democrat racist areas held out. The Republicans then passed the Martin Luther King Holiday, which the Democrat Congress and Jimmy Carter refused to pass.]]

[[File:2000px-ElectoralCollege1980.png|left|thumb|325px|Reagan's 1980 landslide|By 1980, racism ebbed in the Old South as the South began voting like much of the rest of the country. Only the staunchest Democrat racist areas held out. The Republicans then passed the Martin Luther King Holiday, which the Democrat Congress and Jimmy Carter refused to pass.]]

In the century after the Republicans efforts for Black equality and the end of [[Reconstruction]] in 1877, the white South identified with the Democratic Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the [[Solid South]]. The Republicans only controlled parts of the Appalachian mountains, but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before Lyndon Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] - an effort to extend big government social spending on Blacks which the New Deal denied<ref>https://youtu.be/rLMh3O-4aNA</ref> - the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern "values" (including [[segregation]] of blacks). They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Republicans and Northern liberals, as well as civil rights activists whom they denounced as "outside agitators."

In the century after the Republicans efforts for Black equality and the end of [[Reconstruction]] in 1877, the white South identified with the Democratic Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the [[Solid South]]. The Republicans only controlled parts of the Appalachian mountains, but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before Lyndon Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] - an effort to extend big government social spending on Blacks which the New Deal denied<ref>https://youtu.be/rLMh3O-4aNA</ref> - the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern "values" (including [[segregation]] of blacks). They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Republicans and Northern liberals, as well as civil rights activists whom they denounced as "outside agitators."