Why Are So Many Black People Democrats?

In 2008, black people came out in droves to vote for Barack Obama. Many I spoke with had no idea what he stood for or what his platform was. They just knew he was black and that was enough. But would we have done the same thing if he had been a Republican? Statistics show that 95% of black Americans are Democrats? It's odd though since before 1960 most black Americans were Republican. So what happened, why the switch and why do we vote a certain way regardless of the issues?