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33 years later, Fredrick Douglass received a single vote at the 1888 Republican convention in Chicago making him the first black to receive such attention from a major political party. Douglass recorded another such first as well; sixteen years earlier, in 1872, he was nominated in absentia for vice-president by the newly-formed equal rights party.

The presidential nominee was Victoria Woodhull, a suffragist.

Douglass was chosen because of his reputation, and because he was black. Symbolism was important, even then.

"We have the oppressed sex represented by Woodhull", said the man who nominated him. "We must have the oppressed race represented by Douglass."

Douglass declined the Nomination, Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by the republicans, Horace Greely by the Democrats, and Grant won.

One hundred and eleven years later, no issue has divided America's black political community as much as the question of whether -- and if so, with whom -- blacks ought to once again contest the presidency in next year's democratic primaries.

Former friends have bcome instant enemies as they dig in and settle down on various sides of this debate.