Race relations

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

Booker T. Washington is disappointed by the attitude of the New York Evening Post. When Washington met with Rollo Ogden and Oswald Garrison Villard, they promised to support President Roosevelt because of his attitude towards black people. Washington believes it would be best if Roosevelt did not discuss the “Southern question” in his letter of acceptance. Washington plans to submit an article to Dr. Abbott of the Outlook concerning what Roosevelt has done “in the way of purifying official life in the South.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-10

Letter from Francis R. Pemberton to John Singleton Mosby

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.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-11

Letter from John Singleton Mosby to Francis R. Pemberton

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.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-02

Letter from Lyman Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Lyman Abbott discusses the “race plank in the Republican platform.” He is glad that President Roosevelt agrees with him “as to the inexpediency” of the issue and details his opinions about the subject. Abbott further hopes that “the race issue which that plank raised may be forgotten in this campaign.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-04

Letter from William Michael Byrne to William Loeb

William Michael Byrne is working on a program that is based on his belief that the republic is invested in “assimilating races and extending the influence of freedom throughout the continent,” a sentiment which he feels is also expressed by Justice David J. Brewer. Byrne plans to speak to his Italian countrymen, believing that the appointment of Judge Palmiere and himself will show that “the Republican party is not antagonistic to men of foreign birth or traditions.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-23

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

Booker T. Washington is glad that President Roosevelt did not mention “the Southern question” in his address and advises Roosevelt not to make reference to it in his formal letter of acceptance. Washington presents two considerations “which must not be overlooked…as a matter of political expediency.” The first condition is that Northern capital is invested in Southern enterprises, and the second condition concerns labor strikes and unions. Washington adds, “As a matter of righting wrongs at the South, you of course know that I have never felt that reduction of representation was a remedy.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-29

Letter from Booker T. Washington to Theodore Roosevelt

Booker T. Washington writes to President Roosevelt about race relations in the south, especially Louisiana, and how it will effect Roosevelt’s support in upcoming election. He discusses possible strategies for Roosevelt and the Republicans to show African-Americans in the south that their interests align.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-14

Letter from Edward B. M. Browne to Elihu Root

Edward B. M. Browne informs Elihu Root that he is now an open opponent to President Roosevelt in the 1904 campaign for President. Browne insists that Roosevelt “hates the Jews” and that he can prove that Roosevelt protected Smith, Payne, and others. Browne also suggests that several of Roosevelt’s “friends” really want him to be defeated. Browne has sent letters to General James Sullivan Clarkson concerning Roosevelt, and he urges Root to phone Clarkson to see those letters, as the “campaign of 1904 may depend upon your and General Clarkson’s actions in the matter.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-08

Letter from Julian Robinson to Theodore Roosevelt

Julian Robinson [uncle of Douglas Robinson, brother-in-law of President Roosevelt] thanks the president for an autographed picture. Robinson also praises Roosevelt’s efforts in race relations by his invitation of Booker T. Washington to the White House. Robinson expresses how he wishes he could have attended the wedding of Helen Roosevelt to Theodore Robinson, his great nephew and the president’s nephew.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-04

Extract from a letter concerning conditions in Louisiana

Extract from a letter stating that although all the delegates from Louisiana are white the convention included African Americans. A vote to exclude African Americans was defeated 381 to 43.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-02

Letter from John E. Milholland to Theodore Roosevelt

John E. Milholland informs President Roosevelt that famous inventor Guglielmo Marconi is traveling to America and encourages Roosevelt to invite Marconi to dine with him. Milholland also says he is glad that Roosevelt, despite party opposition, has not backed down on the “Negro question.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-11

TR on Rights for Blacks

A selection of quotes by Theodore Roosevelt commenting on the importance of giving white citizens and African American citizens equality of opportunity, and of treating each person, regardless of race, on their own merits.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1901-1905

An ex-U.S. Supreme Justice and ex-Governor of Georgia endorse Mr. Fleming’s views

In response to recent criticism of a speech he gave, William H. Fleming submits two letters from former Governor of Georgia Allen D. Candler and former Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown, in which the two distinguished figures support his views.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-17

German immigration to Pennsylvania

Benjamin K. Focht addresses the Hummel family reunion. Focht discusses German immigration to Pennsylvania, starting with a history of Germany and leading to the contributions that German-Americans have made to public life in the United States. This is a published version of a speech that Focht gave August 28, 1907.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908

The immigration league of Australia: Manifesto

The Immigration League of Australia’s manifesto, which aims to encourage more immigration to Australia from Europe.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01

Excerpt from a letter from Kee Owyang

In an excerpt copied over from a larger letter, Kee Owyang, Chinese Imperial Vice-consul at San Francisco, asks the recipient to ask Lucius B. Swift to see if Theodore Roosevelt might be able to use his influence on the San Francisco board of education to allow Chinese children to go to public schools. Owyang explains the current situation, in which the children are only allowed to go “to an old oriental school in Chinatown,” but protests that as the families pay taxes and the children were born in the United States, they should be allowed to attend public school. Owyang also hopes that Roosevelt will be able to visit the Presbyterian Occidental Home, which has done good work on behalf of Chinese girls in San Francisco.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-02

A poor year for mud-slinging

Efforts from Democrats, particularly southern Democrats, to make personal attacks upon President Roosevelt, are unwise and have largely failed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07

Commentary on Theodore Roosevelt’s southern platform

An article titled “The President’s Original Southern Platform” asserts that southerners should pay attention to a letter that Herman Henry Kohlsaat wrote in response to Reverend W. W. Landrum. Landrum asserted that “the negro question” is a purely religious problem in the South, and Kohlsaat relays conversations he had with President Roosevelt where Roosevelt said that he intended to appoint Democrats in the South when he could not find appropriate Republicans in positions. The writer of the article notes that the South asks Roosevelt to keep African Americans out of public office in the South. The newspaper page includes the letters from both Kohlsaat and Landrum.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-06-07

Letter from James Sullivan Clarkson to Theodore Roosevelt

James Sullivan Clarkson encloses an article about the “negro question” by Carl Schurz, which he highly praises and is also sending to Booker T. Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12-23

“Leopard spots”

Alton B. Parker points his “Parker gun” at a “Rooseveltism” leopard. The spots spell, “Negro policy.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-07-28