Parker Times
Roosevelt and Civil Rights 1910
About Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was almost 43 when he became the 26th president. At that time, he was the youngest man to become president. He was born in New York city on October 27, 1858. His father died his second year at Harvard University.
February 12, 1884 Roosevelt's daughter was born. That same day his wife and mother died of illness. After the deaths of his mother and wife, he left for two years to be a cattle rancher in the Dakota Territory. He left his infant daughter with his older sister.
During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment. He was very in to politics. He became the governor of New York then U.S. vice president. In 1898 Roosevelt became governor of New York.
After the assassination of William McKinley, Roosevelt became president. He then won a second term in 1904. In 1909 he went on an African safari.
Support for African Americans
A lot of white American's believed they were better then any other race. For a while Roosevelt failed to support civil rights for African Americans but did support a few individual African Americans.
President Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to come eat dinner at the white house. Washington was an African American educator and former slave. He was the head of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, an all black training school. In the past, presidents had invited African Americans over to the white house for a meeting but never to have dinner.
Roosevelt appointed an African American as head of the Charleston, South Carolina, customhouse.
Segregation with Other Races
In 1901, segregation was a law. Segregation is separation of different racial groups. When Roosevelt was governor of New York, he ended segregation in schools.
In 1905, Roosevelt wanted 93 Japanese students to attend public schools with whites in San Francisco. Japan protested because they were assigned to the public school for Chinese students. The School Board allowed Japanese students to attend public schools with whites if Japan stopped issuing passports to unskilled workers.
Segregation with African Americans
In Brownville,Texas, that involved a few white people and a lot of African American soldiers. One white person died and one was injured. The soldiers were accused of the shooting and all 167 of them were dismissed from the service. The incident happened before the November elections but he waited until after to dismiss them.
Many African Americans were lynched. In 1901, 105 that are known were lynched. In 1902 there were 85; in 1903, 84; in 1904, 76; in 1905, 57; in 1906, 62; in 1908, 89; in 1909, 69; and in 1910 there were 67. The black population was 10.7% of the U.S. population.