Why did it take America so long to get a black president?

Answer 1

America has had a very conflicted racial history, as have some other countries. The US did not end slavery till Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and it took time for that to be implemented; black men only got the vote in 1870, after which, southern states did their very best to obstruct black advancement. (Women, both black and white, did not get the vote till 1920.)

Further, the 1898 Plessy vs. Ferguson case enshrined segregation into law, and as long as black people could be segregated, there was no way for them to mount a successful national campaign. It wasn't until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s that more black men and women moved into the public sphere and segregation came to an end. Thus, given several centuries of bigotry and laws that made it possible for that bigotry to continue, it would have been difficult for a black candidate to get taken seriously until the 1970s or 1980s. Barack Obama himself did not enter politics till the 1990s.

Answer 2

Because voting was strictly for wealthy, white, property-owning males.

Answer 3

Because African Americans never were running for president