How did Black Americans vote in presidential elections prior to 1936?

Question

While researching data for another answer of mine, I came across Factcheck.org’s breakdown of the Black presidential vote from 1936. Unfortunately, this data only goes back until the first re-election of FDR, but it shows a clear Black preference for the Democratic Party across its entire timescale.

Most people – including me – assume that in the first couple of elections after the Civil War Black Americans, or rather: freed slaves, voted overwhelmingly Republican. Furthermore, it is well-known that most Blacks lived in southern states where extensive voter suppression and disenfranchisement took place (mostly exercised by the Solid South’s dominant Democratic Party). Obviously, there must have been a flip somewhere in-between.

What did the Black American (presidential) vote look like prior to 1936? How does it break down by state and what was the turnout/what fraction of the eligible Black population was registered?

Answer 1

The 1936 election was the precise turning point with regard to Presidential elections. The 1932 United States presidential election was "the last time a Republican presidential candidate won a majority of black and African-American votes." A Slate article mentions that FDR got "just 23 percent of the black vote" in 1932.

This was the culmination of a transition that began in the late 1920s. Here is an article on black representation in Congress which explains:

The realignment of black voters from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party that began in the late 1920s proliferated during [the New Deal] era. This process involved a “push and pull”: the refusal by Republicans to pursue civil rights alienated many black voters, while efforts—shallow though they were—by northern Democrats to open opportunities for African Americans gave black voters reasons to switch parties.