Progressive Democratic Party

The Progressive Democratic Party was a political party in South Carolina in the 1940s. It was founded in 1944 by John Henry McCray, editor of the black newspaper The Lighthouse and Informer to galvanize blacks to register and vote. While it did not achieve electoral success, it did successfully get blacks to play an increasingly important role in South Carolina politics. Origin From the end of Reconstruction in 1877 to the 1960s, the Democratic Party was the only viable political party in South Carolina. It was essential for any politician seeking to hold a public office that they win the Democratic primary. The general election was predecided, because the South Carolina Republican Party never seriously contested an election and was little more than a patronage institution. The party was also increasingly hostile to blacks in the state, because the national Republican Party recognized the lily white faction, which sought to exclude blacks, as opposed to the Tolbert black and tan faction. More importantly, though, were the New Deal policies initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which had the effect of convincing blacks to switch their allegiance from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. Therefore, blacks sought participation in the Democratic primaries, but were excluded in the Southern United States because of their race. In April 1944, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Smith v. Allwright that white primaries were illegal. In response, Governor Olin D. Johnston called the General Assembly into session to convert the South Carolina Democratic Party into a private club so that it could exclude blacks from its primaries. John Henry McCray then led an effort for blacks to form their own Democratic party to show their support for President Roosevelt and to contest the validity of the white Democratic party. They originally called their party the South Carolina Colored Democratic Party, but at a convention in Columbia on May 24 the party was formally established as the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP). The term colored was omitted from the name because their goal was racial inclusion and they did not want the appearance of an exclusively black party.