Case in point at Yahoo answers.
Q: When did Republicans and Democrats switch views?
I hear this alot. Lincoln was a Republican. Yet blacks overwhelmingly support Democrats today. Exactly when did they "switch sides" and how? Was this a recent change or did it happen directly after the civil war? Please provide sources for whatever side of the argument you take.
A: They haven't "switched sides" on the issues in that sense.
Democrats are the modern party of racism - both promoting the idea that blacks are not as capable as whites and seeking to prohibit them from self defense by banning guns, especially in the hands of blacks.
Republicans lack the support of many black leaders because some of those leaders have risen to power by corruption and suppression of their own people. Those leaders effectively market the democrat strategies of giving money to blacks to promote their inferiority in the eyes of the nation.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100416120035AA54Bea