Presidents--Relations with African Americans

Michelle A. Krowl of the Library of Congress presents twenty items from the library’s Theodore Roosevelt Collection. The material, consisting of twelve letters, four other documents, three political cartoons, and a campaign poster, encompass the years 1884 to 1934. Twelve of the documents were penned by Roosevelt, and Krowl provides context and background for each item while including quotes from the document in her description. The twenty items are preceded by a short introductory essay by Krowl which includes two photographs of the Library of Congress.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2021

Creator(s)

Krowl, Michelle A.

President Roosevelt is pleased with the letter Judge Speer sent along with the clippings and details of his speech. He is pleased with Speer’s views on promoting social justice regarding race relations, and is upset that some senators are still using their power to undo advancement of African Americans in society.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

James Ford Rhodes and Henry S. Pritchett have been discussing their recent correspondence with President Roosevelt. Both men support President Roosevelt’s stance regarding the American South and agree his policies will result in improving regional and racial tensions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-23

Creator(s)

Rhodes, James Ford, 1848-1927

Thomas Nelson Page writes to Nicholas Murray Butler and reviews the points discussed at their recent meeting. Page is of the opinion President Roosevelt should state explicitly he has no hostility to the American South and that such a statement would end bad feelings against Roosevelt and tension within that region.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-16

Creator(s)

Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922

Consul General at Ottawa, Ontario, John Gilman Foster describes to Benjamin F. Barnes the communications that have occurred regarding an African American man convicted of murder in Canada. A letter from the man’s father was forwarded to Gilman by the State Department. Gilman simply forwarded that letter to the Canadian minister of justice, without requesting clemency or any other intervention.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-12

Creator(s)

Foster, John Gilman, 1859-1931

When referring to President Roosevelt’s Southern policy, it should be made clear that his intention “is in every case of appointment to get the best men, black or white.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-09

Creator(s)

Presidential Office Staff

President Roosevelt replies with interest to Major Byrne, explaining, in confidence, his position on race relations in the South. Roosevelt cites the Indianola post office affair, when African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox was driven out of town by a white mob, as an example of the “policy of retrogression” in the South. Roosevelt says, “On the one hand I wish by my action to avoid stirring up any bitterness; on the other hand, I must not act in a cowardly manner and make the apostles of lawlessness and of brutal disregard of the rights of the black man feel encouraged in their indignity. As always in life, I have to face conditions, not as I would like to have them, but as they actually are, and every course I take is beset with difficulties.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-14

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt thanks Consul Tourgee for his kind letter, but admits his invitation to Booker T. Washington was an impulsive decision rather than a calculated one. Although he has not been able to “think out any solution” to the problematic race relations in the United States, Roosevelt feels strongly that each man, white or black, should be treated “strictly on his merits as a man” and that he, as President, should act according to his convictions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt assures Booker T. Washington that comments made about their dinner will not affect the stand he has taken or his policies in the American South. Roosevelt also requests Washington’s opinion of various political figures in Missouri and Mississippi.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-02

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt is happy Curtis Guild will be writing about him for Harvard Graduates’ Magazine. Even after the reactions to his dinner with Booker T. Washington, Roosevelt will not be swayed from his policy of appointing the best candidates for positions in the American South.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-28

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt was surprised at the reaction to his dinner with Booker T. Washington. He encloses payment to Philip Battell Stewart for his work with Roosevelt on articles published in Scribner’s Monthly and asks Stewart to meet with Mr. Kent regarding political appointments in Denver, Colorado.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-25

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Vice President Roosevelt can meet with Claris Yeuell when he is in Alabama but he will not give an interview. Roosevelt is comfortable with any attacks he receives from the planned visit to Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-07

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Andrew Jackson Montague suggests changes to President Roosevelt’s message regarding lynching and public education. Montague agrees that it would be wise to create a commission to investigate and make recommendations regarding these matters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-30

Creator(s)

Montague, Andrew Jackson, 1862-1937

John B. Ashbaugh examines Theodore Roosevelt’s complicated views on race and charts his history with various ethnic and racial groups, including Native Americans, African-Americans, and Jews. Ashbaugh highlights the influence of Roosevelt’s southern born and raised mother and her brothers, both of whom served the Confederacy during the Civil War. Ashbaugh stresses that Roosevelt’s views evolved over time, and he demonstrates how Roosevelt believed in and promoted the Progressive views of his time such as the assimilation of Native Americans, but that he also respected many aspects of Native culture and had enduring friendships with individual Native Americans. Ashbaugh presents Roosevelt’s views on Jews and immigration, and he details many aspects of Roosevelt’s feelings toward and relationship with African-Americans, including his condemnation of lynching, his White House dinner with Booker T. Washington, and the Brownsville incident.

Five photographs and two illustrations appear in the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2020

In his interview with Gregory A. Wynn of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Matthew Oyos, author of In Command: Theodore Roosevelt and the American Military, discusses several aspects of President Theodore Roosevelt’s military policies, including the voyage of the Great White Fleet and the Brownsville affair. Oyos stresses that Roosevelt was a figure whose values were shaped by the nineteenth century but who had to command the armed forces of the rapidly changing twentieth century, and he notes that Roosevelt’s strategic vision meshed with his personal pursuit of the strenuous life in that he wanted the United States to play an active role in world affairs. To assume that role required professional military forces, in particular a naval fleet.

Two photographs of Oyos and the front cover of In Command accompany the text of the interview.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2020

In his review of Geoffrey Cowan’s Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary, James M. Strock highlights Cowan’s treatment of Theodore Roosevelt’s relationship with African-Americans, especially during his 1912 Progressive party campaign, and he takes issue with Cowan’s interpretation of Roosevelt’s anti-trust record. Strock also believes that Cowan places too much stock in contemporary sources, and he believes that Cowan does not see Roosevelt, or other political leaders, in a heroic light. Strock provides a brief overview of Roosevelt’s campaign and notes the consequences for himself and the Republican party.

Two photographs and the front cover of Let the People Rule accompany the review.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2016

Natalie A. Naylor describes the relationship of Theodore Roosevelt and his family with the hamlet of Oyster Bay, New York, and his home, Sagamore Hill. Naylor looks at the history of the Roosevelt family on Long Island, and she emphasizes the important role Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt played in managing the Sagamore Hill farm and its finances. She highlights Theodore Roosevelt’s participation in gathering hay on the farm and his fondness for rowing in the nearby waters. Naylor also recounts the roles played by African Americans who worked and lived at Sagamore Hill, and she details the products of the farm and how they sustained the family. 

Eight maps showing the evolution of Sagamore Hill and Long Island accompany the article as do seven photographs, five of which feature Theodore Roosevelt working and playing on his estate.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

William N. Tilchin asserts that President Theodore Roosevelt was guided in his policies by a strong sense of morality, one that had been instilled in him by his father. Tilchin examines four areas of Roosevelt’s presidency–the control of corporations, the status of African-Americans in the Jim Crow South, the conservation of natural resources, and diplomacy–and argues that in each Roosevelt’s sense of morality, of right and wrong, guided his approach. Tilchin states that Roosevelt’s greatest moral shortcoming in his policies occurred over race, noting Roosevelt’s failure to adequately curtail lynching and his treatment of African-American soldiers in Brownsville, Texas. On the other hand, Tilchin says that in his conservation policies, Roosevelt “was the very model of an effective moral leader,” and he praises Roosevelt for his foreign policy that had as one of its underpinnings that the United States acted as a “morally upright” and civilized nation.

A political cartoon and three photographs of Roosevelt supplement the essay.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1996

Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas Brinkley tell the story of the most famous bear hunt in American history: Theodore Roosevelt’s unsuccessful hunt for black bear in Mississippi that gave birth to the teddy bear toy. Ambrose and Brinkley provide political context for the trip to Mississippi, list the members of the hunting party, and describe the hunt of November 15, 1902. The article also describes Clifford Berryman’s cartoon depiction of the hunt which led to the creation of the teddy bear. 

A photograph of Brinkley and his wife, and three photographs of members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) distributing teddy bears at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, accompany the article. A text box with the vision statement of the TRA appears at the end of the article. 

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

In this two part article, John A. Gable traces the origins of President Theodore Roosevelt’s use of the term “Square Deal” to his great western tour in the Spring of 1903. Gable asserts that the first use of the exact term can be found in Roosevelt’s speech at the Grand Canyon on May 6, 1903, and he notes that the first two uses of the term were in reference to Native American and African American soldiers whom Roosevelt praised for their service in the Spanish-American War. The article includes the text of Roosevelt’s Grand Canyon speech and a short excerpt from his speech at Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

A photograph of Roosevelt speaking in Evanston, Illinois during the western tour and a text box with a listing of the officers of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1991