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Opinion: Legacy of George W. Lee is instructive for today’s GOP

By , Daily Memphian Updated: February 04, 2021 4:00 AM CT | Published: February 04, 2021 4:00 AM CT
Otis Sanford
Daily Memphian

Otis Sanford

Otis Sanford is professor emeritus of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis and political commentator for WATN-TV ABC24 News. Contact him at o.sanford@memphis.edu. 

Lee encouraged Black Memphians to support Democrat Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But when emerging Black leaders in Memphis pleaded for Lee to officially abandon the Republican Party and become a Democrat, he graciously declined.

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