For much of the past three decades, Powell served as perhaps the most well-known Black Republican in the nation, a four-star general who served as Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, George H.W. Bush’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and George W. Bush’s secretary of state. In each post, Powell made history by breaking racial barriers.
He represented a brand of Black Republicanism with deep roots in the anti-slavery politics that birthed the 19th-century era GOP as the oft-described “party of Lincoln.”
In the 20th century following the Second World War, many Black Republicans were forced to navigate a perilous path between the pro-segregation politics of the Democratic Party and a GOP increasingly more dedicated, in many instances, to national security, the free market and capitalism than racial justice.
Powell’s background as a soldier made him loyal to the Republican Party during years in the 20th century when Democrats began to be identified as supporters of anti-war movements and proponents of smaller military budgets. His military background also made him popular with conservatives and independents alike, despite the rise of Black neoconservativism, personified by Black Republicans (such as Justice Clarence Thomas) who rejected race-based legal, legislative and policy reforms once championed by the GOP.
When Powell passed the torch as secretary of state to Condoleezza Rice, another former national security adviser who enjoyed a closer personal relationship to President George W. Bush than Powell did and showed more comfort with aspects of the party’s rightward political shift, it was an important moment in the evolution of Black Republicanism within the GOP.
Colin Powell’s death reminds us of the relevance of Black voices within a Republican Party that in many ways no longer exists — one that valued a diversity of voices in representation and ideology. Powell’s brand of Black Republicanism supported a strong national security platform and a robust commitment to racial justice.
These attributes led many to believe that Powell might become America’s first Black president. While he flirted with the idea of running for president in 1996 and 2000 as a Republican, Powell declined, perhaps through a better comprehension that his unifying comity might not be aligned with harsher voices within the GOP who, in the 21st century, came to drive the party down its fateful path toward Trumpism.
Powell’s death signals the end of an era. It closes one chapter in an imperfect effort by Black Republicans to preserve the GOP’s sacred 19th-century roots: eradicating slavery, advocating abolition, reviving democracy. Powell and many of his fellow Black Republicans struggled for decades to forge spaces within their party that could welcome Black conservatives who embraced anti-racism and social justice.
His dignified insistence that Black life mattered on the domestic and national stage as well, even when his own party moved away from this vision, made him a truly Promethean figure. His mentorship and advocacy — alongside his support for racial justice efforts — modeled unparalleled leadership and commitment to civic democracy right up until his death.