Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915

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.

In a letter to Americus R. Underdown, Theodore Roosevelt praises the Tuskegee Institute, run by Booker T. Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Bradley Gilman wishes Theodore Roosevelt to know he has always believed in Roosevelt and been loyal to Roosevelt even though they have never spoken for more than two minutes. Gilman is a writer and will be traveling South with Booker T. Washington soon. The only thing Gilman wants from Roosevelt is to know that Roosevelt knows Gilman believes in Roosevelt and his high aims.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-17

Creator(s)

Gilman, Bradley, 1857-1932

Two Republican clubs, the Austro-Hungarian Republican League and the Colored Republican Club, will be factors in the coming campaign, in support of President Roosevelt’s re-election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-04

Creator(s)

Unknown

In a letter to the editor, Max Heller criticizes President Roosevelt for inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House, as an example of inappropriate familiarity between the races. Heller defends, however, the right of African Americans to education and uplift, and argues that every man should be judged on his own merits.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-17

Creator(s)

Heller, Max, 1860-1929

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Belle Roosevelt responding to the death of Zoeth S. Eldredge. Roosevelt addresses President Wilson’s handling of the war in Europe. He also mentions a recent trip to Tuskegee to appoint a successor to Booker T. Washington.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1915-12-19

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt clarifies William H. Taft’s opinion on the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, and on the appointment of African Americans, for Lawrence F. Abbott. Namely, that Taft shares Roosevelt’s sentiments, as well as those of The Outlook, on Mississippi Governor James Kimble Vardaman and Representative John Sharp Williams. Roosevelt offers a list of the principle African American appointments he has made while in office, and encourages Abbott to contact Booker T. Washington for further statement on the character of the appointees.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-10-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

President Roosevelt thanks Thomas G. Bush for introducing him to Booker T. Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-04

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Harry Johnston thanks Theodore Roosevelt for sending his collection of essays on birds and mammals. Johnson was also sorry to read in the papers that Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt fell from her horse. He plans to visit Germany and Holland soon to study breeding in Europe, and mentioned an invitation from Booker Washington to attend the Negro Confrence in Alabama.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-06

Creator(s)

Johnston, Harry, 1858-1927

Maurice Francis Egan sends President Roosevelt a book about the Icelandic-Celtic sagas and informs the president about giving Thomas J. O’Brien’s letter of recall to Danish King Frederick VIII on September 6, 1907. Egan recounts his visit to Frederik VIII and his wife, Queen Louise, mentioning his discussion with Louise about Christian Science and her opinion that Roosevelt was handling race relations and treatment of African Americans in a Christian way. Although Egan feels that Danish is difficult to learn, he believes he is getting along well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-12

Creator(s)

Egan, Maurice Francis, 1852-1924

David Starr Jordan thinks that if Americanism is the true motto of the country, then Japanese immigrants who meet all the qualifications should be naturalized as citizens. President Roosevelt and his administration have been successful in preventing the creation of a “Jim Crow” class while also protecting America’s dignity in interacting with Japan. Even in interfering in local matters, it has only been limited to when there are possible constitutional violations at stake, like when the local school board in San Francisco made their ruling about the Japanese school-aged children. There are definite economic advantages to maintaining trade with Asia, but an influx of immigration to the United States does raise some valid concerns along economic and social lines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-03

Creator(s)

Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931

The Macon Telegraph describes Senator Benjamin R. Tillman’s inconsistent reactions to President Theodore Roosevelt’s views on race relations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-14

Creator(s)

Unknown

Senator Mason spoke at the annual banquet of the Giddings Republican Club. He suggested that Senator Foraker would be the Republican candidate for president in 1904. Mason believes that the tariff will be the major issue in 1904, and he expressed his support for President Roosevelt’s actions in the Booker T. Washington incident.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-25

Creator(s)

Unknown

Booker T. Washington is requesting a meeting with President Roosevelt on a day that he will be in Washington.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-16

Creator(s)

Unknown

William Morrow asks Assistant Attorney General McReynolds to convince President Roosevelt to tour the South. Morrow does not believe that Roosevelt is advocating social equality with African Americans. Morrow claims that he and others happily associate with African Americans without the question of social equality being raised.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-09

Creator(s)

Morrow, William, 1839-1910

Henry S. Pritchett, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writes to President Roosevelt about “the Negro question.” Pritchett claims that Republican Reconstruction was a failure, and argues that the federal government should stop trying to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, since legislative threats are not making the Southern states comply. He recommends that the Southern states be allowed to control their own voting laws, subject only to outside criticism without force. Pritchett admits the Southern states will immediately disenfranchise most African Americans, but that this will be fair since they will also disenfranchise ignorant whites. He believes Roosevelt will still be allowed to make some African American appointments pending approval of local white leaders. Pritchett encloses an article he wrote on the subject and pages from James Ford Rhodes’s history. Rhodes, a historian specializing in Reconstruction, adds a postscript to Pritchett’s letter saying he agrees with Pritchett’s recommendations and will discuss with Pritchett conversations he had previously on the subject with Roosevelt.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-12-06

Creator(s)

Pritchett, Henry S. (Henry Smith), 1857-1939; Rhodes, James Ford, 1848-1927

President Roosevelt celebrates his forty-ninth birthday with a variety of friends. In the upper left hand corner at the piano are New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes and Thomas Fortune Ryan singing, “Oh let us be joyful.” Booker T. Washington tells Henry Watterson, “Henry, I hope you’ll come down and visit me at Tuskegee.” Senator Joseph Benson Foraker says to Secretary of War William H. Taft, “I heard a good story today, Will.” Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks look at a picture of George Washington, and Fairbanks says, “That picture makes me sad. It reminds me of cherries.” William Randolph Hearst, James Roscoe Day, and Secretary of State Elihu Root look at a book of “Snapshots in New York.” William Jennings Bryan and Grover Cleveland play a game of checkers, and Bryan says, “After you, Grover.” J. Pierpont Morgan watches over the game with his hand on Bryan’s back. Henry Huttleston Rogers, F. Augustus Heinze, and Thomas William Lawson sit together. Lawson says, “Rogers, my boy, you must come over to Boston and visit me.” John D. Rockefeller points at Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s chest while President Roosevelt presents a bouquet to James J. Hill as William J. Long looks on. Finally, James T. Harahan, Edward Henry Harriman, and Stuyvesant Fish read “Snap Shots Along the Illinois Central.” Harriman remarks, “Very nice album, Stuyvesant, is it not?”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-10-27

Several articles from the Commercial Advertiser are highlighted. They discuss the “terrible” precedent that President Roosevelt set by inviting the African American educator Booker T. Washington to dinner, and criticize Congress for its conduct during the most recent legislative session.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-03-04

Creator(s)

Unknown

In an editorial for The Century, Editor Richard Watson Gilder defends President Theodore Roosevelt’s actions on the “colored question” in the South. Gilder reminds readers that Roosevelt’s mother hailed from the South and suggests patience to Roosevelt’s critics, encouraging them to “judge the President by his whole conduct toward the South” and by all of his appointments, regardless of their racial makeup. Gilder asserts that the minority appointments Roosevelt has made are not radical or threatening but are in line with his “especial endeavor to appoint good men to office everywhere.” In concluding, Gilder qualifies his remarks with a reminder that the magazine has not agreed with every Roosevelt appointment and that its chief aim is to champion fair play.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02

Creator(s)

Gilder, Richard Watson, 1844-1909

James Kimble Vardaman criticizes President Roosevelt’s selection of black men as postmasters. He also criticizes the administration’s position in standing behind Minnie M. Geddings Cox as postmaster.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-01-10

Creator(s)

Vardaman, James Kimble, 1861-1930