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Black Congressman Says MAGA Republicans In His State Told Him ‘Slavery Was a Good Thing’ and Believes They Would ‘Absolutely’ Reinstitute Jim Crow

Posted byBy Yasmeen Freightman | Published on: | Updated on April 14, 2026 CommentsComments (0)

Congressman James Clyburn recently said that some MAGA Republicans have told him outright they wish to return the country’s social and political landscape to the Jim Crow and slavery eras.

During an appearance on PBS’s “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover” back in November, the 85-year-old U.S. representative gave a detailed overview of his newest book, “The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation,” which tells the stories of South Carolina’s first eight Black congressmen who were elected after the Civil War, and how they navigated intense racial dynamics, reshaped political office, and paved the way for Clyburn’s rise to power as the ninth Black congressman from the Palmetto State.

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Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina speaks before introducing President Joe Biden at the International African-American Museum on January 19, 2025, in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo: Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)

Clyburn wrote the book following the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, which he believes was inspired by the Antebellum era and came to pass as a result of reactionary politics.

A clip from the show that’s garnered some recent attention online shows Clyburn explaining some personal interactions he’s had with constituents in his district who are MAGA loyalists and supporters of President Donald Trump, some of whom want the country to return to a segregated state.

When asked whether he thought MAGA Republicans were explicitly racist, Clyburn said he doesn’t liberally apply the term to the entire group, but explained that some believed “slavery was a good thing.”

“I’m very circumspect about using the term. There are racists,” Clyburn said. “There are white supremacists. There are people who are supporters of this president who admit to me that they are white supremacists. I’ve had people who support this president tell me that they thought slavery was a good thing.”

In 2016, a YouGov poll surveyed Trump supporters and found that nearly 20 percent did not approve of the Emancipation Proclamation ordering the freedom of enslaved Americans in Confederate states during the Civil War.

Clyburn said he believes the MAGA Republicans “wish to get us back as close to slavery as they can possibly get us” without violating the Constitution and would attempt to reinstitute Jim Crow with the help of the Supreme Court.

“Anything that’s happened before can happen again,” Clyburn said. “All it takes is a rogue Supreme Court.”

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