Republicans Campaign on Martin Luther King's Birthday Newt Gingrich attended an awards breakfast in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Monday commemorating Martin Luther King's birthday. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - On Martin Luther King's Birthday, Newt Gingrich spoke to black voters about growing up in segregated Georgia. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said he had appointed a "descendant of slaves" as the Texas Supreme Court's first black justice. And Mitt Romney said "we must never rest" until Americans are judged for their merits, not their race. The Republican presidential candidates spent the holiday on Monday reaching out to wary black Americans. In the struggle for every last vote, some candidates were hoping to appeal to a small number of black voters in the South Carolina primary on Saturday - even if those voters end up supporting President Obama in the fall. The King holiday gave the all-white Republican field an opportunity to speak about race - and their work on civil rights - as the candidates try to unseat the nation's first black president. But it is a challenge to reach black voters in South Carolina, where they made up only 2 percent of Republican primary voters in 2008. "It would be nice if I thought black voters would give the Republicans more due as the party of Lincoln," said Chip Felkel, a Republican consultant in Greenville, who is unaffiliated with any campaign. There may be marginal improvement, but not much. That has not stopped some candidates from challenging the conventional wisdom that Republicans and black voters go together like oil and water. Republican strategists say that without Mr. Obama in this primary, they hope at least to improve on the participation in the 2008 primary. South Carolina does not register voters by party and allows any resident to vote in either primary. Mr. Gingrich veered from the traditional campaign trail on Saturday for a stop at Jones Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, a black church in Columbia. One of the largest crowds at the state Tea Party convention in Myrtle Beach on Monday was for Representative Tim Scott, who represents this coastal district as one of two black Republicans in Congress. "I think you're going to see more blacks at the Republican primaries this year," Mr. Scott said. Some were already planning to be there. Aundrea Rue, 30, a high school teacher in Myrtle Beach, said she was going to vote for Rick Santorum. She said she admired his Christian values, opposition to abortion and Tea Party support. "When I vote for a president, I'm not so much looking for someone who looks like me as someone who protects the country and represents what I believe," Ms. Rue said. I respect President Obama, but I don't agree with him on many issues. But most black voters at Republican campaign events this week responded more like Lavern Wilson, 69, a retired machine operator who is a Democrat. After listening to Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Perry speak about civil rights on Monday, Mr. Wilson described their words as "way too little, way too late." "They're just pandering because there's an election," he said. They're courting black voters, and it ain't going to work. Race has been an issue several times in this election. Mr. Gingrich has been criticized for saying African-Americans should "demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps." And reports that Mr. Perry's family owned hunting grounds in Texas named with a racial epithet caused a awkward start to his candidacy. Republicans are looking for a candidate who speaks eloquently about race, said Mark Tompkins, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina. "It's about reassuring your base that they're well-intentioned conservatives, not racists," Professor Tompkins said.