Your TR Source
Rollo Ogden forwards to President Roosevelt a letter from A. C. Cleveland regarding questions Ogden posed about the enforcement of electoral laws in the South. Ogden urges Roosevelt to press this issue as it would weaken the Democratic Party, and he urges that Roosevelt should publicly condemn lynching.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-28
Elizabeth E. Baker writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt to request used clothing. Baker, a young African American woman, describes being assaulted on a Mississippi trolley car, leaving her with injuries that require her to change her career and move from Mississippi to Atlanta, Georgia.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-07-19
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
Lawrence F. Abbott has spoken with Booker T. Washington on the race problems of the South. Abbott also sends the latest comments from The Outlook about President Roosevelt’s racial policies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-31
Richard Wilson Knott discusses the uproar in the South over the appointment of African Americans to office. He believes that the outrage is largely fueled by newspapers and leaders of both parties who are upset about losing offices held by political machines. He says that President Roosevelt believes in the equality of all men and is unjustly criticized.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-03
Magazine article on President Roosevelt’s appointments of African Americans to government positions.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-24
Thomas Nelson Page believes the agitation in the American South comes from white fears over the potential recognition of social equality. President Roosevelt has either misunderstood the implications of appointing African Americans to political posts or he has an agenda to promote social equality. Either way, the white South is upset over the “race question.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-28
Newspaper article supporting President Roosevelt’s position in the Indianola post office case. Complaints were raised against Indianola’s postmaster, Minnie M. Geddings Cox, due to her race. Roosevelt supported Cox and federal authority to appoint postmasters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-27
The article expresses support for President Roosevelt’s actions in the appointment of Dr. William Crum as collector of the port at Charleston and in the closing of the Indianola, Mississippi post office, because of white opposition to the black postmaster who had served there for several years.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-06
At a meeting on behalf of the Berean Institute, former president Grover Cleveland praises Booker T. Washington as a great citizen and a credit to the black race. Cleveland and Washington both praise Matthew Anderson and the Berean Institute, and state that they believe that education of African Americans is very important to their advancement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-12-12
Lyman Abbott supports efforts to assist African Americans in the South and wants to see equal justice for African Americans. However, he fears intensifying white prejudice by taking drastic action and does not believe the time is right to appoint an African American as Collector of the Port in Charleston, South Carolina.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-12-04
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
William H. Brawley has a low opinion of the Republican Party in South Carolina. He agrees with President Roosevelt regarding the Marshalship and he approves of not appointing William D. Crum to the Collectorship. Brawley expresses his belief that Crum’s standing in the community would not suggest such an appointment and that that no one would “consider him for the place if he were not a colored man.” Brawley disclaims racism and mentions fighting against the Ku Klux Klan while a solicitor in the 6th Circuit, but he also states that the efforts to improve the political rights of African Americans are “hindered rather than helped” by appointing them to jobs that “awaken resentments.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-12-09
Francis E. Leupp asks President Roosevelt to carefully consider his position on the Charleston case. To change his course at this point would risk Roosevelt’s policy toward African Americans while failing to earn him any support among Southern whites. After the emphasis Roosevelt gave that was published in newspapers, to change course would weaken Roosevelt’s standing in Leupp’s opinion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-11-25
Two articles from the New York Age discuss political meetings and resolutions by various African American societies and meetings. The first reports on a visit of New York Age editor Timothy Thomas Fortune to San Francisco, where he spoke about the need for political unity among African Americans, and praised President Roosevelt’s statesmanship. The second reports on a meeting of the Union League Republican Club of Detroit, which upholds its support of President Roosevelt after he wrote a letter condemning those who opposed his nomination of the African American William Demos Crum for Customs Collector in Charleston, South Carolina. The club also speaks against the “lily white” Republicans and the invitation of Senator Benjamin R. Tillman to speak in Detroit.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-12-25
Booker T. Washington would like to speak with President Roosevelt about the “Smith matter” and mentions that no African American holds a presidential appointment or position of importance in Texas.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-06-05
R. L. Hoffman does not want Robert Lloyd Smith to be appointed to a representative office in Texas and presents evidence of why Smith is not qualified due to disloyalty to the Republican Party.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-06-10
William A. Pledger intends to apply for the consulship at Callao, Peru. Senator Hanna does not know Pledger but will “commend his claims for recognition to your consideration.” In a postscript, Hanna adds that Pledger is a “colored man.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-05-21
Edgar S. Wilson introduces Mississippi Governor Andrew Longino to President Roosevelt. He briefly discusses some of Longino’s policies, including efforts to improve race relations. According to Wilson, Longino has attempted to fund public schools equally for white and black students. Wilson comments that it is unfortunate that the state constitution does not allow Longino to be re-elected.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-10
James H. Eckels encloses an editorial from the Chicago Chronicle that thoughtfully discusses President Roosevelt’s dinner with Booker T. Washington.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-08