In 1912 Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate for president, promised fairness and justice for blacks if elected. In a letter to a black church official, Wilson wrote, “Should I become President of the United States they may count upon me for absolute fair dealing for everything by which I could assist in advancing their interests of the race.”
African Americans had strongly supported Wilson for President.
At one point, he released a statement to the National Colored Democratic League assuring the members that he opposed “unfair discriminating laws against any class or race” and believed “that the qualifications for voting should be the same for all men.” He added:
I want to assure them through you that should I become President of the United States, they may count upon me for absolute fair dealing and for everything by which I could assist in advancing the interests of their race in the United States.
But after the election, Wilson changed his tune. He dismissed 15 out of 17 black supervisors who had been previously appointed to federal jobs and replaced them with whites. He also refused to appoint black ambassadors to Haiti and Santa Domingo, posts traditionally awarded to African Americans. Two of Wilson’s cabinet ministers, Postmaster General Albert Burelson and Treasury Secretary William McAdoo, both Southerners, issued orders segregating their departments. Throughout the country, blacks were segregated or dismissed from federal positions. In Georgia, the head of the Internal Revenue Division fired all black employees: “There are no government positions for Negroes in the South. A Negro’s place in the corn field.” He said. The President’s wife, Ellen Wilson, was said to have had a hand in segregating employees in Washington, encouraging department chiefs to assign blacks separate working, eating, and toilet facilities. To justify segregation, officials publicized complaints by white women, who were thought to be threatened by black men’s sexuality and disease.
W.E.B. Du Bois sharply criticized President Wilson in THE CRISIS: “The federal government has set the colored apart as if mere contact with them were contamination. Behind screens and closed doors they now sit as though leprous. How long will it be before the hateful epithets of ‘Nigger’ and ‘Jim Crow’ are openly applied?” The NAACP’s active campaign forced Wilson to back off from segregating the federal government. Jim Crow was checked but not rooted out. It would remain in place until the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt.
Source: PBS, Federal Highway Administration
article found@http://dilemma-x.net/2013/02/03/black-history-month-and-the-modern-u-s-presidents-and-their-view-on-race/
61 Comments
GodDamnAmerikkka! By GDAMERICAN
WOODROW WILSON LIED DIDNT HE JUST TO GET VOTED IN LIKE DONALD TRUMP!
Wilson was a Democrat.
He promised jobs and the rate of black unemployment is the LOWEST it has EVER been. How is that a lie?
You need to turn off CNN and MSNBC… stay off Occupy Democrats and Huffpost. Find more reliable sources that will give an unbiased review accounting from ALL sides.
Janet Waren I figure you watch CNN but if you would bother to look unemployment for minorities like blacks are at there lowest levels ever
Trump didn’t lie to get in. He promised lower taxes. done. Oil pipelines and energy independence. Done. Fewer oppressive regulations on businesses and individuals. Done. Build up the military. Done. Get rid of Obamacare. Partly done and still working on it. Build a Wall at the southern border. Partly done despite opposition from both parties and the courts. He will get it done. He promised to make our allies pay their fair share in NATO. Done. Which Trump camp sign lies are you talking about or are you just talking out of ignorance?
Yea he lowered taxes for the rich genius. They got 90 plus % of the tax cuts while friends I know working middle class had to pay as much as $9,000 more this year. Military gosh give them more money to waste. After 19 years in Afghanistan they cant even hold Kabul and beat 5,000 Taliban in caves. The working poor are poorer. More children are receiving school free lunch as their parents are in poverty. Wages are not up nor is the minimum wage. No Wall with Mexico that they where paying for. The deficit this year is approaching 1 trillion dollars, North Korea is launching missiles. We are laughed at and hated throughout the World. No replacement for NAFTA, no deal with Iran , no deal with China on trade. What a Con man. You’ve been Conned asshole as he tears are Country apart and we approach a Civil War with each other.
Another liberal asshole. Wilson was a Democrat.
Trump is the antichrist. Wake up
That’s ridiculous. You wake up!
You can’t give a tax cut to anyone who doesn’t pay taxes, dipshit. This line about “he only gave cuts to the rich” is a lie – everyone got a tax cut. Everyone who pays taxes, that is. The bottom half of the country doesn’t pay andime in federal taxes. So how do you propose giving a tax cut to someone who already doesn’t pay anything? That’s right, you can’t. That’s why your Democrat talking point is a dishonest one. It ignores the reality.
Wanna keep going? Dem talking points are easy to pick apart if you just use actual common sense and logic.
I am middle class and yes we got a raise. Deals are being made with all countries you mentioned but the dirty Demorats and fake repubs are blocking and working against him at every turn. They also push to spend more and threaten to do nothing if money istnt put up in new spending Bill’s. Then they do nothing but pander and block. It isn’t Trump it’s our corrupt representatives and the unelected bureaucrats who actually run it all. The wall is being built and we have private citizens having it built as well. There is more than 300 miles being built so far and more coming. Yes Mexico is slowly paying and more tariffs are coming. After decades of corruption it will take time to fix any of this. Dan Bongino, The X22 Report, The SGT Report, The Hagamn and Hagman show and many more are a resource for what’s really going on. You can find them on YouTube. The fake news your watching is corrupt and controlled. This are changing and people are being arrested. It is just a time issue. Promises are being kept.
Black unemployment is at record lows under Trump. What are you smokin’?
you be a low info, low iq, low self awareness, low bandwith, lowlife. stop drinking the blue kool aide and open your eyes
More like all Democrats who still segregate and oppress minorities.The places minorities live are all run by criminal Democrats
JANET WARREN,, TRUMP HAS DONE MORE FOR NLACK AMERICANS THAN ALL OTHER POTUS COMBINED
Trump 2020 and forever
Should have followed Fannie Mae Hanner example.
The Crisis should be required reading in every middle school and High School!
Larry…the only thing done regarding fake pump DT (which you fell for) was a obfuscation of facts for his (Trump) financial gain. Wall-not done. Taxes…increased. ACA still alive and well. Energy/oil independence took place well before fake pump got into office. His only accomplishment is convincing like minded people that he is king. But a wise man once told me that, “Even a one eyed man is King amongst the blind”. Open your eyes.
You fool…
how many times are blacks gonna be suckered by Democrats and for blacks to keep falling for empty promises? Democrats have always been Democrats. they sing a different tune now but same old same old. Suckas!
True, but replace the term Democrats with White America!
I suspect you’re going to be disappointed by a Latino America then
Your a fool im tired of being called rascist just because im white i am not nor have i ever been rascist. Why cant we just be americans.
So the dems who are hog wild about abortion, love it that 1/2 of black babies are aborted…..whose racist, Those trying to convince everyone less blacks are good or those who want to stop all killing of babies??
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The Republicans are no different! Just look at what he surrounded his self with! The only Black Cabinet member is Ben Carson!
One hand washed the other.when it comes to this two party system they have become interchangeable under the non impressive but holy oppressive guidance of democracy to which power supposedly lie with we the people.meaning big Banks multinational Big business,tug of wars between have and have nots. The constant pressure put on working class people.The widening gap of wealth and health distribution.All the disturbing threat of continuous wars with no end in sight. Yet those still waiting in the wings for future generations to fight.Yes we need to fight for what is right .lest both democratic and Republican with their pathetic history can both take flight.
Black Americans were overwhelmingly against Trump, or any other Republican. Carson has had his back ever since the primary. Individuals like Carson are welcomed by Trump.
After the next election, where blacks are due to get wised up to the fact that dummycrats are the raciest who have kept blacks down, there should be other changes, like no more democratic party
Ben Carson ain’t a strong individual. He is certainly a “YES” man.. Just like Sambo Clarence Thomas.
Fucking racist asshole. Carson would make you look like a babbling asshole in a debate.
And he doesn’t consider himself “black”
Very crude comment. Carson is brilliant. Too bad you can’t see past your hang up with skin tone.
Carson and Thomas are both brilliant men of integrity. Since you don’t see those qualities I’m certain those qualities aren’t important to you.
These racist barbaric assholes are the same no matter the era.
but we love us some democrats.
Not the same Democrats..
??? They ARE the same democrats! Only the names have been changed.
Donald Trump is a republic and one of the biggest lying President that ever was. He lies every day and the most crooked immoral person one ever met. Not fit to be president of the United States.
But yet, here he is, and by the way working to improve the lives of ALL Americans! Not just one segment of the population, ie illegal aliens. If you want to believe that the “savior” is unstained and had never lied, then you’ve been under a rock!
Would you like to prove your accusations? And please cite your sources. Your opinion alone does not make it true.
I feel very sorry for you. You appear to believe everything you hear but never bother to investigate the source of the material. That’s truly sad. That is the type of person who allowed Hitler to take over Germany… Stalin, in Russia… and Mao, in China. You are being “played” and you can’t even see it due to your blindly believing the hate and the lies you are being fed.
What is truly sad is that whileTrump was a Democrat, he was highly praised as a “champion” of the underprivileged minorities… if ONLY changed when he announced he was running for president as a republican.?
I been scared and batter, my hopes the wind done scattered. Snow had froze me, Sun have baked me. Looks like between them they tried to make me. Stop laughing, Stop loving, Stop Living. But I don’t care I’m still here. Langston Huges, Resisted by Joseph Murray.
Wasn’t he also the one that sanctioned the bombing of Tulsa Oklahoma???
?? Bombing of Tulsa, Oklahoma??
This is what happens when people are no longer taught history and, instead, believe (and spread) lie after ignorant lie!
There were horrible race riots in Tulsa, OK in 1921 where mobs of ignorant people attacked black citizens and businesses. In the process, 36 people were killed.
Wilson has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with it as Warren Harding was the president, at the time. I’m sure that Harding had nothing to with it either. To say that EITHER of these presidents had “sanctioned” the riots would be equal to saying Obama “sanctioned” the riots in Ferguson, MO. and Baltimore, MD.
Educate yourself with REAL info instead of spreading lies!!
400 years are over – 1619 to 2019 it’s our time.
Real talk. Just need to get rid of all these holdovers from slavery like the cradle to prison pipeline, effects of redlining, unequal pay, etc.
STOP! Making it about party!! It doesn’t matter when it comes to racial issue. The same racial injustice are still in place today! Nothing has changed; found new ways to do the same old B.S.
This is not, the first time, & it well not be the last time. Lies had been told to the black people!!!! I don’t want to read, anymore lies. Show me the truth!!! May God have mercy, on us all
Please forgive me, Ms. Blue, but do you truly believe that ONLY blacks are lied to by politicians and political candidates?? I’d love for you to be able to find either a leader or a candidate who has NOT lied to EVERYONE!!
We should NOT be singling ourselves out… we are all in the same boat! We either sail together or we drown together… what’s it to be?
The tension that exist between the races will always be there no matter how subtle, because of the insecurities of the caucasians quest for world domination! The African race must reclaim its past glory and fight against racial oppression!
Until such a time oppression and injustice well continue to plague melanin dominate people of the earth!
Hahaha! Tariq, you are a funny one!
There is as much “racial tension” (aka prejudice) between between Blacks and Asians, between Caucasians and Asians, as there is between Blacks and Caucasians.
There is no more “world domination” attempts by Caucasians than there has been by Asians. Africans have not simply because they are too busy with tribal disputes. When I lived in China, there were protest marches by African students against the harsh and unfair treatment they received at the hands of the Chinese. I thought, so this is the big socialist brotherhood. Hahaha!
In US, most of the racial tension is brought about by ignorant and insecure people (regardless which race we talk about) and this prejudice of the insecure and ignorant is cultivated by the political parties to gain votes. These parties don’t care about any of us, they just want our vote.
The longer we allow politicians to separate us, the longer we will all suffer. Everyone but’s the politicians, that is. They are getting rich off of our “tensions”.
Why would anyone compare Trump to Wilson lies.
Trump lies to everyone, to save himself. Woodraw lied only to black people.
If you think the two are comparable, good for you.
You are sadly delusional… sounds like another lost soul believes that one politico is different from another.
Wake up!! They ALL LIE!! They lie to ANYONE who will believe their lies and vote for them!!
Trump is no different from Obama! Obama was no different from Bush! Bush was no different from Clinton and do on and so on.
Read what these politicians say! They don’t think that we are smart enough or important enough to know the truth! It’s not just the presidents it’s all the politicians!! Don’t fool yourself into thinking it is just one. That makes you a pawn and when they are finished using you they throw you away.
I have been a democrat all my voting life but the more I learn about them, the more discussed I become, my youngest son will be registering as an independent and I will be joining him. I believe this is the way forward for black people, neither political party has our interest at heart or deserve our “loyalty” but we are a strong voting block that have made the difference in many elections, we just haven’t been organized enough to take advantage of our political power
This is just another article to incite racial tensions. Stop this. We have enough problems in our world without having to try to stir shit up when there isn’t any. We don’t need this garbage.
Segregation and prejudice are not acceptable, but some context is necessary. Wilson was the second Democrat to be elected with only 43% of the vote. Wilson was dependent on the Southern Democrats to pass his legislation. The Republicans had an African American constituency and had appointed Ambassadors and other officials to support their coalition. Wilson was a racist. MacAdoo was his right hand man and was a competent administrator and acclaimed financial Czar during WWI. He also married Wilson’s daughter, almost became the Democratic nominee for President in 1924 and then became the Senator from California in 1932. The point is that Wilson’s racism is also part of politics in which the Spoils System allowed Democrats to reward their coalition. Another aspect of Wilson’s racism is a fracture in African American thought between integrationists and separatists. Booker T. Washington argued that African Americans should be educated to become successful on their merits. W.E.B. DuBois was opposed to Booker T. Washington.
Make America straight again.
THE DEFINITION OF DISFUNCTION
Minority Politicians that knowingly allow their children to attend a High School named after the former VA Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and most RACIST President in modern American history. WHO ARE THESE IGNORANT POLITICAL “LEADERS?” This defines a LACK OF LEADERSHIP, statewide.
Actually, Ellen Wilson visited the black ghettos of DC while first lady and tried to raise awareness of the bad conditions therein. After she died in 1914 and he married Edith Galt, Edith brought her extreme prejudices into the marriage. Ellen cared.