Your TR Source
President Roosevelt agrees with Surveyor Clarkson that it is against the principles of the Republican Party and the government to appoint an improper man simply because he is African American as well as excluding a man because he is African American. Roosevelt would prefer to appoint Rheulach as District Attorney in Alabama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-29
Captain Tandy protests the appointment of Weinbrenner as Marshal in St. Louis due to previous incidents of racial discrimination. Tandy recommends appointing A. F. Shriner.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-05
President Roosevelt is already investigating the alleged incident with George R. Koester, and is surprised at the allegations because of Koester’s history upholding “the rights of the colored man.” He will look carefully at the facts and determine what should be done.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-09
Benjamin Franklin Fridge and John Milliken Parker have decided that the Progressive convention in Mississippi will be a “white convention.” The convention will be called for August 1 and should send a full delegation to the National Progressive Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-07-24
Booker T. Washington understands why Theodore Roosevelt cannot attend the Tuskegee Board of Trustees meeting but is pleased to announce that Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck and Company has agreed to join the Board. Washington felt that it was his duty to press charges in the Ulrich assault case even though he doubted there would ever be a conviction. Almost all evidence presented in Henry Albert Ulrich’s defense has been “pure fabrication.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
B. G. Tieger sends Theodore Roosevelt their poem petitioning Americans to read Jewish history and “see how much utility and advantage this people has brought.” They hope Roosevelt will publish it in The Outlook.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-18
John Allison, Chancellor of the Davidson Chancery Court in Tennessee, notes that the African American churches and organizations protesting President Roosevelt’s dismissal of a battalion of African American soldiers have not made any resolutions condemning the soldiers that he believes are responsible for killing innocent civilians in Brownsville, Texas, nor have they expressed any sympathy for those victims or regret at the conduct of the battalion whom he believes are protecting the murderers. Allison tells President Roosevelt’s secretary, William Loeb, that this is typical behavior for African Americans, and he urges Roosevelt not to countermand his order of dismissal because it might embolden the “worst elements of their race.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-21
Robert DeCourcy Ward offers his suggestions and edits for an upcoming message on immigration to be given by President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-30
John Hays Hammond, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, has been lecturing on the threat Japan poses to America’s political and commercial interests. The Pacific states and Australia fear Japanese immigration and are determined to fight it. American and England should defend their Pacific possessions from Japan. The Japanese claim to have adopted “Anglo-Saxon ideals,” but Hammond calls this into question when he quotes a high-ranking Japanese politician saying it is “Japan’s holy duty to free all Asiatics” and that they should “teach them to conquer Europeans in war, commerce, and culture.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-04-27
Charles J. Bonaparte asks President Roosevelt to meet with Maryland State’s Attorney Albert Owens to discuss proposed legislation that would allow for legal disfranchisement of some African Americans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-14
Francis R. Pemberton disagrees with Colonel Singleton about President Roosevelt’s “Negro Policy.” He does not like that Roosevelt receives advice from Booker T. Washington. Pemberton asks Singleton to tell Roosevelt that his policy is wrong.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-11
John Singleton Mosby discusses Francis R. Pemberton’s views on what Pemberton calls President Roosevelt’s “Negro Policy.” Mosby compares Roosevelt’s actions to those of William McKinley and Grover Cleveland, noting how Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to lunch and Cleveland invited Frederick Douglass to a social event. Mosby believes that the Tammany Democrats in New York will vote for Judge Alton B. Parker because “Cleveland is for Parker and Parker is for the Gold Standard” and not, as Pemberton believes, “because of the President’s Negro Policy.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-02
Reverend Hall believes that more white men in Alabama “would have voted the Republican national ticket this fall if it were not for the negro question.” Hall has heard people say that any attempt at social equality will “result inevitably in conflict” and implies that Roosevelt may not completely understand the sentiment in the South.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-28
Summary of the “Lily White” takeover of the Republican Party in Louisiana. They have forced out all African American participation and declared for “white supremacy.” The previous Republican organization, led by Walter L. Cohen, have held their own convention and will send delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Equal Rights Association of Louisiana calls for Republicans to combat the lily whites.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-06-02
Francis Bennett Williams assures President Roosevelt that there will be several African American delegates from Louisiana at the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-05-12
The author of this article attacks the idea of “social equality,” and on the idea that race makes one person superior or inferior to another, and argues that “social equality consists logically in adaptability for enjoyable companionship.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-27
Advance proof of an editorial by Julian LaRose Harris on the South’s political future, intended for publication in the March issue of Uncle Remus’s Home Magazine. Harris discusses the reasons why white southerners currently vote only for the Democratic Party, and why this has caused a stagnant political landscape that the Republican Party might exploit. Harris supports the disenfranchisement of African American citizens. However, he asserts that the focus on this disenfranchisement in the South has resulted in the diminishing influence of Southern Democrats over national Democratic Party policies and presidential nominations. He suggests that president-elect William H. Taft could encourage more bipartisan voting by white southerners if he heeds their political appointment suggestions and refuses to give federal appointments to African American candidates.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02
The “Lily White” movement in Alabama is a Republican faction that seeks to exclude African Americans from the Republican Party. The movement caused considerable resentment and confusion but recent district conventions have seen cooperation between black and white delegates, including the selection of African American delegates to the Republican National Convention.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-16
In The Pilot, a Boston newspaper, an article is highlighted in which Grover Cleveland has denied rumors that he hosted an African American for dinner at the White House. The author of the article suggests that in another century, “civilized Americans” will regard the idea of an African American being invited to the White House with “little horror.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-12
The law, originally approved by Congress on May 6, 1882, forbids the naturalization of people of Chinese descent. The courts have ruled that this includes marrying a citizen. Thus, a Chinese wife could not receive citizenship by marrying an American citizen. Therefore, Dr. Yamei Kin cannot receive a passport or be protected by American officers abroad.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-02