This Day in History: Teddy Roosevelt Discusses America’s Race Problem (Sat., Feb. 13)
This Day in History:, Teddy Roosevelt Discusses
America’s Race Problem.
February 13, 1905.
Roosevelt delivered a speech to the
NYC Republican Club in which he discussed
the country’s state of race relations.
During his administration —
just 40 years after the end of the Civil War —
much bitterness existed between the North and the South.
The West had also seen an
influx of Asian immigrants,
sparking new nationalistic
and racial tensions.
Roosevelt’s solution was to proceed slowly toward
social and economic equality, taking caution
against radical changes in government policy.
He suggested a gradual adjustment in the attitudes
of whites toward ethnic minorities.
It would take nearly six decades with the
1964 Civil Rights Act for government efforts
aimed at correcting racial bias to be passed into law
America’s Race Problem.
February 13, 1905.
Roosevelt delivered a speech to the
NYC Republican Club in which he discussed
the country’s state of race relations.
During his administration —
just 40 years after the end of the Civil War —
much bitterness existed between the North and the South.
The West had also seen an
influx of Asian immigrants,
sparking new nationalistic
and racial tensions.
Roosevelt’s solution was to proceed slowly toward
social and economic equality, taking caution
against radical changes in government policy.
He suggested a gradual adjustment in the attitudes
of whites toward ethnic minorities.
It would take nearly six decades with the
1964 Civil Rights Act for government efforts
aimed at correcting racial bias to be passed into law