The Wisdom of Conservative Blacks

As we enter the twenty-first century, there is little debate over whether America is becoming increasingly conservative. Recent elections and opinion polls support that fact. Yet there are almost as many definitions for the term "conservative" as there are scholars and individuals representing conservative thought in the marketplace of ideas.

I believe the word "conservative" is best used as an adjective and not a noun. Thus, conservatism is best understood as a state of mind and a type of character, a way of looking at the social order. It's a set of traditional principles and a philosophy. Conservative Americans want to preserve the best of the past and make improvements; conservatism is not about radical change unless the times demand it.

Conservative Blacks

In the black or African-American community, the first institution of conservative thinking was the black church. It has been the traditional institution, inspirational force, and foundation for black leadership for two centuries.

In 1966, George S. Schuyler, former journalist for the Pittsburgh Courier, wrote a popular autobiography titled Black and Conservative. Schuyler described the American black as the "outstanding example of American conservatism: adjustable, resourceful, adaptable, patient, and restrained."

Booker T. Washington also described black conservatism, noting: "The Negro should acquire property, own his own land, drive his own mule hitched to his own wagon, milk his own cow, raise his own crop, and keep out of debt, and when he acquired a home he became fit for a conservative citizen." Washington was describing a middle-class family lifestyle of self-reliance.

Blacks have much to conserve, beginning with traditional family values, the institution of the church, a legacy of strong faith in the value of an education, self-reliance and an improved financial outlook. I am reminded of my growing up in Alabama, when parents and other adults said to young folks and girls in particular, no sex or babies before marriage, don't come home from school with bad grades, and don't be late for Sunday school. If I or my sister brought friends home with us, my grandmother wanted to know who their parents were.

The black church took a leading role in cultivating and maintaining such attitudes. It was conservative philosophy that black Americans utilized to build churches, insurance companies, and colleges, and to develop practical skills. They did not rely upon welfare programs. American history verifies the progress of black Americans before the 1930s.

Since the introduction of "Black Studies" as an accredited college curriculum more than three decades ago, there has been an increase in the number of noted scholars interested in the subject of blacks in American history. Thus, there is a closing of some of the gaps in race history analysis. Examples that come to mind include several books and a television story on Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Louis R. Harlan, professor of history at the University of Maryland, was awarded the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for his two-volume biography of Booker T. Washington. This ended up being a 25-year project for Harlan, making Washington the first black American to receive such recognition.

Even with this new attention to blacks in American history, we continue to be in need of scholarly attention and analysis. For example, neither the 1993 African American Encyclopedia nor the 1997 African American Almanac included the terms "conservative" or "conservatism." Yet the label accurately describes such prominent blacks in history as Mary McLeod Bethune, George S. Schuyler, Ralph Ellison, Roy Wilkins, Rev. Joseph Jackson, and others.

My Own Odyssey

My own conservative leanings were strongly shaped by my childhood spent in the deep conservative South (Troy and Montgomery, Alabama), being raised primarily by my grandmother, and attending church regularly. My attitude was further developed with an undergraduate degree in economics and business, which led to a career in corporate America. That career exposed me to public policy issues in the marketplace and the government.

My interest led me to attend a two-day Black Alternatives Conference in 1980 in San Francisco. The conference was described by the media as a conference of "black conservatives." While all in attendance were not conservatives, the dominant focus was on economically and socially conservative themes and programs. The participants, mostly blacks, were business people, academics, professionals (lawyers, doctors, journalists), and community activists.

The central figures organizing the conference and selecting the 23 speakers were Dr. Thomas Sowell, an economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; and Dr. Henry Lucas, Jr., DDS, board of directors, Institute for Contemporary Studies.

Sowell, who identified himself as neither a Republican nor a Democrat, opened the conference as follows:

This is a historic opportunity. The economic and social advancement of blacks in this country is still a great-unfinished task. The methods and approaches currently used for dealing with this task have become familiar over the past few years and they demand reexamination.

That statement is just as true today as it was two decades ago.

The conference led me to further research, and in particular many hours spent reading the papers of Booker T. Washington. At the time Washington wrote, most of black America was still on the bottom rung of the ladder in a system based on capitalism. I was impressed by his insightful emphasis on education and economic development, rather than political power, as the first priority for black Americans coming out of a failed Reconstruction period.

Conservative Blacks Today

The importance of conservatism to black America was paid great attention at the 1980 conference. Today, I run the organization that resulted from that meeting, The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change.

Conservatism in America contends that by being self-reliant, getting an education, and holding dear the importance of family values, all Americans should have the opportunity to achieve at least a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. If you think about it, the idea of conservatism is nothing short of the "American Dream."

There are several voices within the conservative black community. They are not merely an "echo" of each other, but individuals with an identity and a message in the spirit of Booker T. Washington, Frederic Douglass, and Mary McLeod Bethune.

History never truly repeats itself, though its themes do recur in different variations, as is taking place now with renewed interest in conservatism. Blacks cannot afford to be silent in national debates about how the country will be governed as times and conditions change.

Lee H. Walker is director of The New Coalition at The Heartland Institute and a member of Heartland's Board of Directors. This article is derived from a speech he delivered on April 24, 2003 to Olive-Harvey College's 26th Annual Black Studies Conference.

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The New Coalition at The Heartland Institute aims to develop and promote a conservative multicultural perspective on economic and social policies.

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