Black conservatism in America

Abstract

Current discussions about black conservatism lack historical perspective. They assume that conservatism in the black community is a new phenomenon. However, this assumption ignores a large literature that discusses the history of blacks and the political thought of major black intellectuals who espouse a conservative ideology. This research seeks to fill the gaps left by previous research by discuss- ing the development of black conservative political thought. It also seeks to find out if contemporary black conservative intellectuals have support among blacks. We find they do have support albeit less than a majority of blacks, there is a segment of the black population that identifies with the conservative label.