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Race relations and the press

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Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

President Roosevelt sent Booker T. Washington a draft of his letter to the Interstate Commerce Commission, which Washington now returns with some suggestions. He would like Roosevelt to emphasize that he wants the same justice done regarding humans as to freight. Roosevelt writes that several roads in the South do right by African Americans, but Washington would like him to work the sentence into the letter in such a way that newspapers cannot cut it out.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-03-28

Letter from Clark Howell to Theodore Roosevelt

Letter from Clark Howell to Theodore Roosevelt

Clark Howell, editor of The Constitution, encloses recent editorials from the four daily newspapers of Atlanta, Georgia. Howell says the keynote of investigation in order to get at the truth of the “race problem” runs through them all, and he notes that this is the first instance in which the four newspapers of Atlanta have ever discussed any proposition along the same general line. Howell suggests the creation of a nonpartisan commission tasked with investigating the issue of whether or not the education of the negro race is “proving his ruination.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-24

President Roosevelt’s “You-Be-Damnedness”

President Roosevelt’s “You-Be-Damnedness”

Newspaper article defending President Roosevelt for having Booker T. Washington dine with him at the White House. The author suggests that the President’s reply to southern critics will involve inviting the next “prominent negro” who visits the White House to dine with him. The president will not be influenced by these critics any more than he will be influenced by New York’s “so-called Four Hundred.” The author also asserts that Roosevelt will continue to honor men who deserve it, regardless of race.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10

Letter from Seth Low to Clark Howell

Letter from Seth Low to Clark Howell

Trustee Seth Low of the Tuskegee Institute writes to the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, expressing his distress over recent criticism of Booker T. Washington that he has observed spreading in the South. The criticism surrounds Washington’s attendance at a luncheon in a Saratoga Hotel. Low clarifies that while Washington entered and left with John Wanamaker, he was not the escort of anyone in Wanamaker’s party. That said, Low points out that the newspaper reports of the Saratoga incident do not account for differences in race relations between the North and the South.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-08-30