Surprisingly, Roosevelt didn't concoct this supposedly outrageous decision in advance. As a very busy guy, Roosevelt had a meeting with Washington for advice on cabinet appointments that he knew might run late and a family dinner afterward. Thence, he just decided to combine the two. However, this didn't come with at least a bit of hesitation. Both men knew that this would spark a bit of attention because it was a meeting not based on business, and it also implied Roosevelt's feelings on social equality. Moreover, women and children would be present during this meeting.
The response from the press and the South was more than just furious. Both Roosevelt and Washington received death threats, and people began accusing Roosevelt of using his publicity as a way of expressing his private views. In response to the furious masses, the White House responded by saying that the event didn't take place at all at first. Then only later they claimed that it had occurred but that it was a simple luncheon without any women or children present.
This event has been widely diluted over the years just because of a) the nature of the press at this time b) the defamatory nature of what was said. The newspaper at this time is known to have been very extreme, and many would keep the paper for a day and then discard it. This made for very short lived yet explosive ire from the people. In addition, this event has been very hidden because of the nature of what was said at the time; many quotes and articles are so offensive that they would not dare to be even mentioned today. Many politicians took to this topic very harshly in order to make an attack on Roosevelt, therefore making this an opportunity to gain an upper hand on him.
Even through this, there was still some positive response from the black community from this time. Bishop Henry Turner supposedly said to Washington. "You are about to be the greatest representative and hero of the Negro race, notwithstanding you have been very conservative." Though he got a bit of backlash himself, to the point where he would make no comment to the press about the dinner he had with Roosevelt, Washington was still able to continue his groundbreaking work in his fight for African Americans.
Even through this, there was still some positive response from the black community from this time. Bishop Henry Turner supposedly said to Washington. "You are about to be the greatest representative and hero of the Negro race, notwithstanding you have been very conservative." Though he got a bit of backlash himself, to the point where he would make no comment to the press about the dinner he had with Roosevelt, Washington was still able to continue his groundbreaking work in his fight for African Americans.
I found the varying opinions on this event very interesting Christina! I think this dinner and the controversy it produced are great examples of the segregation that was apparent during the time; I enjoyed that this post connected our current unit to another topic we had previously learned about.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I looked up the event on the internet and found a NPR post about the topic (http://www.npr.org/2012/05/14/152684575/teddy-roosevelts-shocking-dinner-with-washington). What I looked at, since you had already covered all of the information, was the reactions of people today to the event, down in the comments section. Many people praise Roosevelt for the equality he believed in when racism was the norm, while others are simply upset that the dinner became an issue in the first place. Thanks for making light of this event, I thought it was really interesting!
So interesting that different parties had different views of what was going to happen. Even the smallest of details could be interpreted to mean much more than originally intended (the fact that the dinner and meeting were combined was monumental in some people's eyes, whereas they had only done so to make the meeting more efficient). One detail that is a little confusing to me is why having women and children there was such a big deal?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog post, Christina!