Editing Openai/69553f28-f9d0-8012-b6da-c45d050a0239 (section)

===== Facts About Realignment =====
* There was not a simple midnight “switch” where the Democratic Party suddenly became the Republican Party and vice versa. Lucas Vaughn Raw<ref>{{cite web|title=Lucas Vaughn Raw|url=https://lucasvaughnraw.com/the-great-switch-myth-why-the-parties-didnt-just-flip-on-civil-rights/|publisher=Lucas Vaughn Raw|access-date=2026-01-01}}</ref>
* However, over the mid-20th century, the national Democratic Party increasingly embraced civil rights and federal social reforms, while many white Southern Democrats opposed those changes. HISTORY<ref>{{cite web|title=HISTORY|url=https://www.history.com/articles/democratic-party|publisher=history.com|access-date=2026-01-01}}</ref>
* This led to a gradual realignment: Some conservative Southern Democrats moved toward the Republican Party over decades; Many African Americans shifted from the Republican coalition to the Democratic coalition after the 1930s and especially the 1960s. HISTORY<ref>{{cite web|title=HISTORY|url=https://www.history.com/articles/democratic-party|publisher=history.com|access-date=2026-01-01}}</ref>
* Historians describe this as a “realignment”, not a simplistic “swap of souls.” It unfolded over years, not instantly. arXiv<ref>{{cite web|title=arXiv|url=https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17733|publisher=arxiv.org|access-date=2026-01-01}}</ref>