Woodrow Wilson and Civil Rights
Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 28, 1856. Wilson claimed that he had a memory of being a small boy standing beside Robert E. Lee's side. Although the Civil War ended over 45 years before his Presidency, Wilson's Confederate influences remained throughout his presidency. Whether or not he can properly be labelled as a racist, he clearly had no interest as president in advancing the interest of African-Americans.
Wilson was an academic who served as a Professor and later as President of Princeton University before becoming Governor of the state. While president of Princeton, Wilson discouraged African-Americans from applying for admission. He sided with those white students who felt threatened at the prospect of having black students admitted to the University.
Wilson wrote a book entitled "History of the American People" in which he explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan "began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action".
Despite his having roots in the Confederacy and his resistance to their educational advancement, a significant number of African Americans left the Republican Party in 1912 to cast their votes for Wilson. They were encouraged by his promises of support for their issues. One of his supporters was W. E. B. Du Bois, the leader of the NAACP. But in his first term as President, Wilson did not back up those promises with any action. He refused to interfere with the well-established system of Jim Crow laws which supported racial segregation. He backed the demands of Southern Democrats that their states be left alone to deal with issues of race and black voting without interference from Washington.
African-American leaders who supported Wilson in 1912 were angered when segregationist white Southerners took control of Congress and many executive departments. Wilson ignored complaints that his cabinet officials had established official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. New facilities were designed to keep the races working there separated. According to historian Eric Foner, Wilson's administration "imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders in political-appointee positions, and replaced then with only a few black Democrats to such posts.
Despite this, W. E. B. Du Bois campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. DuBois accepted the commission, but he failed his Army physical and did not serve. When the United States entered the first world war, Wilson drafted hundreds of thousands of African-Americans into the army, but kept them in all-black units with white officers, and kept the great majority out of combat. When a delegation of these soldiers protested the discriminatory actions, Wilson told them "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." Wilson displayed a smugness when he told The New York Times, "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it."
Wilson nominated the first Jewish American to the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, although he took this step likely for political motives rather than altruistic ones. As President he did nothing to support any notion of racial equality or of advancement of the interests of African-American people. It was not on his agenda probably because such notions were incompatible with his personal beliefs. When Wilson is ranked among the greatest Presidents, his record in the field of civil rights either gets overlooked or forgotten completely.
One area where progress was made on Wilson's watch however was in the field of women's suffrage. After the United States joined the First World War, the protesters continually picketed the White House. In January, 1918, Wilson announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure". The House of Representatives passed the federal woman suffrage amendment 274 to 136 but it was opposed in the Senate and was defeated in September 1918. Another attempt in February 1919 also ended in failure. In May 1919 the House of Representatives again passed the amendment (304 to 89) and on 4th June 1919 the Senate finally gave in and passed it by 66 to 30. On 26th August 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was certified by the Secretary of State, when Tennessee, the thirty-sixth and final state needed, signed for ratification. Ironically, in the next election a majority of women voters would support the Republican candidate Warren G. Harding.
Wilson was an academic who served as a Professor and later as President of Princeton University before becoming Governor of the state. While president of Princeton, Wilson discouraged African-Americans from applying for admission. He sided with those white students who felt threatened at the prospect of having black students admitted to the University.
Wilson wrote a book entitled "History of the American People" in which he explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan "began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action".
Despite his having roots in the Confederacy and his resistance to their educational advancement, a significant number of African Americans left the Republican Party in 1912 to cast their votes for Wilson. They were encouraged by his promises of support for their issues. One of his supporters was W. E. B. Du Bois, the leader of the NAACP. But in his first term as President, Wilson did not back up those promises with any action. He refused to interfere with the well-established system of Jim Crow laws which supported racial segregation. He backed the demands of Southern Democrats that their states be left alone to deal with issues of race and black voting without interference from Washington.
African-American leaders who supported Wilson in 1912 were angered when segregationist white Southerners took control of Congress and many executive departments. Wilson ignored complaints that his cabinet officials had established official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. New facilities were designed to keep the races working there separated. According to historian Eric Foner, Wilson's administration "imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders in political-appointee positions, and replaced then with only a few black Democrats to such posts.
Despite this, W. E. B. Du Bois campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. DuBois accepted the commission, but he failed his Army physical and did not serve. When the United States entered the first world war, Wilson drafted hundreds of thousands of African-Americans into the army, but kept them in all-black units with white officers, and kept the great majority out of combat. When a delegation of these soldiers protested the discriminatory actions, Wilson told them "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." Wilson displayed a smugness when he told The New York Times, "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it."
Wilson nominated the first Jewish American to the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, although he took this step likely for political motives rather than altruistic ones. As President he did nothing to support any notion of racial equality or of advancement of the interests of African-American people. It was not on his agenda probably because such notions were incompatible with his personal beliefs. When Wilson is ranked among the greatest Presidents, his record in the field of civil rights either gets overlooked or forgotten completely.
One area where progress was made on Wilson's watch however was in the field of women's suffrage. After the United States joined the First World War, the protesters continually picketed the White House. In January, 1918, Wilson announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure". The House of Representatives passed the federal woman suffrage amendment 274 to 136 but it was opposed in the Senate and was defeated in September 1918. Another attempt in February 1919 also ended in failure. In May 1919 the House of Representatives again passed the amendment (304 to 89) and on 4th June 1919 the Senate finally gave in and passed it by 66 to 30. On 26th August 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was certified by the Secretary of State, when Tennessee, the thirty-sixth and final state needed, signed for ratification. Ironically, in the next election a majority of women voters would support the Republican candidate Warren G. Harding.