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Booker T. Washington encloses an editorial from the Montgomery Daily Evening Times that shows that the sensible white people of the South can not be deceived by the foolish cry of Negro social equality.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-07
Editor of the Galveston City Times William H. Noble discusses the need to appoint African Americans as Republican party representatives in Texas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-18
Mississippi has made itself a “promoter of ignorance and illiteracy” by selecting James Kimble Vardaman as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Vardaman earned votes by attacking President Roosevelt and African American civil rights.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-05
Rollo Ogden encourages President Roosevelt to make a public statement concerning lynching.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-03
Grover Cleveland informs Rollo Ogden, editor of The Evening Post, that he will not respond to his questions about African American suffrage in the South. Cleveland does not have the time or the inclination to respond.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-21
Newspaper article suggesting that the goal of disenfranchising African Americans is to remove them as a powerful voting bloc in northern states. Without these northern votes, southern politicians will be able to elect the president and control all national legislation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06
Newspaper article attacking Senator Depew for speaking favorably of Booker T. Washington’s work and the industrial education of African Americans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06
Extract from a May 1889 speech by William McKinley advocating the defense of African American constitutional rights.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06
Whitefield McKinlay argues that if southern politicians succeed in preventing William Demos Crum’s appointment it will set a precedent that will prevent any further appointments of African Americans to offices in Southern states.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-14
John Bigelow conveys an anecdote recorded in his diary from a Thanksgiving dinner in London in 1863 at which Selmar Martin, a former slave, was a guest and gave grace. This was notable because another guest, Robert J. Walker, had strongly supported slavery as a Senator from Mississippi. He then comments on the recent criticism of President Roosevelt’s meeting with Booker T. Washington and suggests that the social status of African Americans “in some parts of the Union” has declined over the last forty years.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-18
Silas McBee discussed the race question with Booker T. Washington and has been editorially defending Theodore Roosevelt’s Southern policy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-31
Joseph Bucklin Bishop sends President Roosevelt an enclosure regarding the recent murder of Narciso Gener Gonzales, a newspaper editor in South Carolina whose paper, The State, called for an end to lynching, among other progressive causes. Bishop feels this incident will be of great service to Roosevelt’s position on African American affairs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-20
Election pamphlet supporting the Democratic Party and white supremacy. The primary focus of the pamphlet is to repudiate President Roosevelt for having dinner with Booker T. Washington at the White House.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902
James Sullivan Clarkson suggests replacements for former United States Attorney Vaughan who was removed due to his role in excluding African American delegates from the Alabama Republican State Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-27
James Sullivan Clarkson encourages and advises President Roosevelt on the treatment of African Americans in the South. He describes his experiences with the Underground Railroad and his efforts in the Post Office Department to further the cause of African Americans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-15
J. F. Hanson comments about racial problems in the south and the relationship between the Republican Party and southern states. He believes that the southern states hold a prejudice against the Republican Party but it is important for the south and the country as a whole that the Republican Party remain in power.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-23
Consul Tourgee commends President Roosevelt for hosting and dining with Booker T. Washington at the White House. He no longer believes Christianity and education can solve the problems of racism. Tourgee recounts an incident with Roosevelt in which Roosevelt stated he would never appoint an African American as a judge. He praises Roosevelt for his change of heart regarding African Americans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-21
John S. Cooper recounts a conversation he overheard that included Grover Cleveland during his presidency. Cleveland stated that he believed the improvement of the lives of African Americans was a major achievement of his administration. Cleveland’s comments made a strong impression on Cooper.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-18
Richard Harding Davis supports President Roosevelt’s decision to host Booker T. Washington at the White House and describes the decision as an “act of every day civility.” The South does not realize that the Civil War is over and that the slave question has been decided.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-17
T. R. Campbell owns and operates a mill in North Carolina that is being boycotted because he hired African American employees and treated them well. He argues in favor of better treatment, but not social equality, for African Americans. Campbell requests funding so that he can continue his work and “make a great success for Christ and the Party.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-08-24