I am a recovering politician, which is not a 12 step program, but i am absolutely delighted that the Wilson Center is hosting this event. I am looking for John Milton Cooper. Where is he . What are you doing in the back . For anyone who has not heard of John Milton Cooper, shame on you. He wrote an awardwinning biography of Woodrow Wilson, and he has been enormously hopeful to us over the years, appearing many times, but also helping us unpack some of the difficult issues around Woodrow Wilson. The subject of todays conversation. So, in 1978, when the Wilson Center was 10 years old, we were charged by congress with creating a Hubert Humphrey fellowship in social and political thought. Good idea. The idea was that a quote, distinguished scholar, statesman, or cultural figure uote, would deliver a lecture honoring humphreys legacy, which makes sense since he was a founding father of this place, as well as Vice President , senator, and dedicated public servant. And at times like this, when the mood in washington is so grim, he was always optimistic. Something i remember and cherish. Its taken us a few years, but we are very proud today to host the Hubert H Humphrey memorial lecture and to have a pointed end incredibly distinguished scholar, dr. Jonathan holloway as our first humphrey fellow. Another very special guest this afternoon is Hubert Humphreys ce, who is here with her husband dennis, and who has built her impressive career working at the department of commerce, several universities, and her own Government Relations firm. She is also writing a book called sibling citizens about uncle hubert and his sister, who i know and i have my own back story about Hubert Humphrey. I have to tell this one. This was even before the Wilson Center existed. It was 1964. The year the johnsonhumphrey ticket won the presidency in a landslide. I had worked in washington that summer as a College Intern at what was called the Young Democrats of america. That fall, i was cohead of the Young Democrats at smith college. We, in all of our uppityness, invited the democratic candidate for Vice President , senator Hubert Humphrey, to visit the smith campus. And he did. And i have got proof. We were unable to enlarge this, but hey, you can all see it perfectly. Here it says johnsonhumphrey. Here he is. Like that. And the little face there is not forrest gump, it is someone who used to be called janie lakes. Cest moi. So after that amazing experience, i was invited to attend Johnson Humphrey inauguration, including the inaugural ball. Think about that, as a college kid. Which came just before my winter exams. In a fit of responsibility, i turned down the invitation so that i could study more. I was sad to miss the festivities, but i did pretty well that semester, and it was a down payment on my political career a few decades later. So back to the humphrey lecture. A few months ago, lonnie bunch, who some of you know and all of you know of, who was the amazingly creative founder of the africanamerican museum just down the road and is the new secretary of the smithsonian institution, recommended the perfect person. I visited with him, and he said this is the perfect person, dr. Jonathan holloway. Dr. Holloway spent nearly two decades at yale and was dean of the college. He also served as the head of calhoun college, now renamed grace hopper college. And was a professor of African American studies at yale. He joined northwestern as provost and professor of history and africanamerican studies three years ago. In the time since dr. Holloway agreed to join us today, he has been appointed president of rutgers university. You can applaud. [applause] which is a small college, about 20 miles down the road from princeton, where Woodrow Wilson spent the last 20 years of his academic career. Clearly this is a very high honor, and we all congratulate you. Dr. Holloways acclaimed research on black intellectual history make same, as i said, makes him, as i said, the perfect person to address todays difficult subject, Woodrow Wilson and race. Over the decades the Wilson Center has not shied away from this topic, and we are well aware it continues to be controversial. But we will all learn something today. I know that i will, and i am really delighted that you have agreed to talk about Woodrow Wilson. Following dr. Holloways lecture, distinguished fellow blair ruble, who is right in the front row, will moderate a discussion with him. Blair ruble, previously our Vice President for programs, also founded and directed our institute for advanced russian studies. Blair now works on our urban sustainability project and is the author of a fantastic book, a seriously good book on the history of washington dc, entitled washington street, a biography. Please welcome rutgers president elect and our humphrey lecturer and follow, dr. Jonathan holloway. [applause] dr. Holloway thank you for that introduction. Thank you for finding your way here. I mean, this is not the simplest room to get into. I was given directions on three occasions and i was still sitting down like, which way am i going . Thank you all for coming here. Thank you president harman, your honor. Thank you to blair in advance for asking very easy questions. Thank you to casey for guiding me here in so many ways. For those who got here earlier, they know i need to extend great thanks to the tech team. We had quite a journey for 45 minutes for this accompanying powerpoint deck. And i must say, thank you, i hope, to John Milton Cooper for coming. When i heard you were here, i thought it makes no sense that i am a. And he is not. He really is the expert, i am something of a poser on this occasion. Thank you for having me here at coming today. I am honored to have been asked to be the 2020 humphrey fellow in social and political thought. Funny story about how i came to stand before you today. When i received the letter, i knew there would be some serious challenges about finding a time that would work, because calendar isl already a mess. I was considering putting my name in the hat for the wreckers the rutgers position you just heard about. I did not know how that would come became my life. And because i was asked to speak in february, a uniquely busy time for africanamerican historians. I was prepared to decline the invitation, in fact. In fact, all wisdom suggested i should decline the invitation until i saw that lonnie bunch had nominated me as a humphrey fellow. She is not here but i will say, well played. She is one of my longestserving mentors, dating back to my second year in graduate school. That was likely enough to make me determined to find a date that would work. Further cementing my need to be here is that northwestern invited lonnie to serve as our Commencement Speaker last year. He accepted the invitation and a few months later was appointed secretary of the smithsonian. We quietly scrambled to get a backup speaker in case lonnie withdrew. To his credit, lonnie stuck to his promise and gave an amazing commencement address. Youou have heard him speak will understand it is amazing. He gave the address for days after starting the as the secretary of the smithsonian. The saturday before the commencement, he pulled me aside and said instead of saying hello, he said the only reason i came here is because of you. Flattering, absolutely. Maybe something else, certainly. I already know i o lonnie for many things. I have to say that when i saw on the letter that he invited me, and that he started with his greeting with what i just told you, i felt a little at the godfather making clear that one day, who knows when, i would be asked a favor. And here i am. The title of this talk as you see is history written and in lighting, racial memories and Woodrow Wilson and the making of a nation. The main title of the talk is symbolic as well as functional. The symbolic aspect is a reference to a quote described it to wilson about his opinion of dw griffiths controversial 1915 film, the birth of a nation. The functional aspect of the title is a reference to the method of his talk itself. This talk itself. In my letter of invitation i was asked to speak about wilson and race. I took this to be an intentionally broad invitation that i could shape in any number of ways. Taking the invitation to heart, i decided to offer a sweep of the long 20th century of the United States through a series of lightning strikes, as it were. A quick investigation revealed much larger political, culture and social sensibilities that collectively tell us who we are as a people. This talk is certainly about wilson, but it is more accurately about wilsons legacy as seen through a racial lens. It explores the way in which wilsons domestic views of racial possibility shaped political, cultural and political and social discourses whose impact could be felt across the 20th century and continues to reverberate into the 21st. I will be limiting these letting these lightning strikes to a geography that runs along i95 and is about 3. 5 hours from beginning to end. Not my talk, just a geography. This is the distance between princeton, new jersey and washington dc. We start in princeton in the early 1900s, moved to washington where we will linger for a bit, before returning to a different, contemporary princeton, and once more to d. C. For a framing consideration. Part one, princeton, writing safe spaces into history. Woodrow wilson was born in virginia. He graduated from princeton in 1879 and studied law at the university of virginia before switching to Political Science at johns hopkins. He taught at bryn mawr and wesley and before returning to princeton in 1890. 12 years later the Princeton Trustees appointed him president , a position he held until 1910. Wilsons record as princetons president is a precursor of sorts to his time in the white house. Wilson came into office as a reformer. He was determined to expand the rigor of the academic curriculum, expand the size of the faculty and establish a graduate school and organize the undergraduate experience while breaking up the universitys eating clubs because their ill eat him their ill there elitism ran counter to his pursuit of discipline. On these measures, his record is mixed. He remade the curriculum, creating a much richer economic environment in the process. The graduate college was built while he was president , and shaping its contours were not what he intended. His efforts to remake the eating club system, something that many many president s tried to reform, alumni efforts were too powerful to outmaneuver. Taking everything into consideration, wilson is appropriately hailed as one of the most important figures in princetons history. He accelerated the schools pace as it moved towards academic excellence, and at least build it into an institution of relevance on the National Stage and at least signaled an intention to make the university a place committed to progressive reform. There is little debating these accomplishments and their importance. Until recently, another part of his contributions to princeton was ignored, his Firm Commitment to keep locks out of the school keep blacks out of the school. 1904, pardon me, what . No. Yes. [inaudible] dr. Holloway i should have warned you i use black slides. All right. There is little ambiguity concerning wilsons view on the place of black students on campus. In a letter 1904, to the assistant secretary of the university, william wrote wilson wrote, the whole temper and tradition of the places that negro has everno applied for admissions and seems unlikely the question will ever seem practical reform. Five years leader wilson translated his philosophy into a more practical form when he responded directly to macarthur sullivan, an africanamerican applicant. It is altogether inadvisable for a colored man to enter princeton, wilson told sullivan. Somewhat someone intent on splitting hairs might say wilson was literally not denying blacks into princeton, not like what we from George Wallace when he stood in front of the Registrars Office and denied entrance at the university of alabama but wilsons performances in these two little quotes were a commitment to something more insidious. In the first instance, wilson rewrites princeton history and in the second, he ensures princeton would remain a safe space for its white students because of his own act of erasure. Rewriting history. Wilson had been part of princetons dna since his undergraduate years. While in college he was involved in student organizations like the debating society and football and baseball associations. Most critical is the fact that he was the managing editor of this do newspaper. Put another way, he knew princetons social fabric and was aware of the topics of the day. His engagement with the school continued when he returned to the campus in 1890 to teach courses in jurisprudence and political economy. It strains the imagination to think wilson did not know about Abraham Parker denny, james monroe bulger, and Irvin Williams Langston Brown street, brown tree all , africanamerican students who received masters degrees at the Princeton Theological Seminary soon after he joined the faculty. If you read back further, you see wilsons willful blindness extended to his undergraduate years, since james mccosh, princetons president , welcomed the occasional black student into his philosophy lectures in the 1870s. Then, alumni wrote letters of protest and five students declared they would withdraw unless he removed a black student from the lecture. He refused to budge and the students withdrew. Four eventually returned. Wilson was a sophomore at princeton during this. Simply put, a black presence at princeton was not unknown to him. It is clear that wilson was committed to a vision of princeton that wrote lack black students out of its history. In 2016, a princeton archivist said it best. Quote, the act of remembering and forgetting princetons africanamerican alumni had consequences, as generations of Princeton Alumni came to see themselves as part of an institution that in excluded black africans because it always had, rather than because it was choosing to do so. It was wilsons princeton that came to predominate not only in memory, but in practice. What was motivating wilson to tell a story of the school that wrote blacks out of its history . Wilson was not the kind of racist to us about violence as a way of controlling resumed black impulses. His racism was more genteel and reflected his sensibility not advisable to bring the races together because it would be unfair to blacks, as they would not be able to keep up with a new, more rigorous princeton he was creating. Even placing that belief to the side, if that is possible, wilson appeared intent to build a princeton that was more come comfortable to the increasing number of southern white students who were returning to princeton after the madness of the war of northern aggression, and the racial experimentation. Although southern whites were more familiar with africanamericans than northern, they were unprepared to accept them in social educational circles. While wilsons paternalism led him to believe that blacks couldnt keep up, another reading of the evidence suggests presence was a threat to him. Keeping princeton white meant it would remain a safe space for students who held tightly to their presumptions that what was a normative was removed instead of an expression of a natural hierarchy. Washington, d. C. Ideology, policy, and absolution. Wilson resigned from the presidency in 1910 in order to run for the governorship of new jersey. He was elected that fall, carried forth on electorate who supported his antitrust and anticorruption ideas. Wilson was put into power by political machinery that believed it could control him. Within months of being put in office he forged his own path with reforms that hurt the Democratic Political machine. National political leaders took note and in short order, wilson was being considered as a potential candidate for the u. S. Presidency. Wilson of course won the 1912 election, carried into office by those who supported his new freedom domestic agenda. This agenda was an expansion of his reformist ideology that earned him the Governors Office two years earlier. A commitment to breakup trust, reduce tariffs, reform the Banking System and conserve natural resources. There was no mention in his platform of securing Racial Justice for africanamericans. No viable candidate could have that as part of his agenda, but wilson pledged his willingness and desire to deal with blacks fairly and justly. More specifically he vowed that he would be a president of the whole nation. He also told Bishop Alexander africanamerican people could call on him for absolute fairness. My earnest wish is to see justice done to them in every manner. My sympathy with them is longstanding. These promises earned wilson an endorsement he needed from these black leaders as well as prominent figures. Like editor w. E. B. Dubois, who believed wilson to be a scholar of fairness who would not seek further means of jim crow insult. However, black leaders like the new jersey machine before them, soon understood wilsons promises would either not be kept or would be interpreted in a way substantially different than what they thought. To these figures, wilsons new freedom agenda felt much like an older agenda keeping blacks in their social and political place. In retrospect, the indication that wilson would not make new positive reforms benefiting africanamericans were there all along. His promise to the bishop was a case in point. When wilson said my wishes to my earnest wish is to see justice done in every matter and not merely grudging justice, it became evident that wilson was true to his word. He spoke of fairness and a sympathy that emerge from familiarity, but fairness on whose grounds . And what was the nature of his racial familiarity . Answers to these questions are found in wilsons background. The administration he formed as president , and a broad view about the distinctions between the races that he had already expressed at princeton. Wilson was the First Southern elected president since the civil war. While geography is not destiny, it informs a worldview. Wilson grew up in georgia and virginia and was involved in a system resisting the northern occupation of the south. It viewed reconstruction as a radical overstepping of federal authority, and was determined to preserve southern racial hegemony. Fairness to wilson meant local customs and practices should be preserved to maintain the status quo. Northern carpetbaggers that were accompanied by ideas that allowed black men the right to vote and own property were to be resisted at every term. Fairness for southerners like wilson was not the kind of fairness black leaders sought. On the issue of familiarity, wilson was like any other white southerner. He came of age around black folk and directed with them on a regular basis. His interactions were not peertopeer. He grew up in an environment with black servants. They were in a way familiar to him, but this familiarity was articulated through a racial hierarchy that insisted blacks belonged on a lower rung of societies latter of societys ladder. Wilson was known for telling racially offensive jokes, a practice he carried into the cabinet. While on the princeton faculty, wilson described formerly enslaved people as a host of dusky children untimely put out of school. They were unschooled in selfcontrol and excited by a freedom they did not understand. Wilson brought these ideologies with him to washington. When he began to build his cabinet, he started to place repay favors by placing southern politicians in key positions. He kept people who played pivotal roles in the wilmington race riot of 1898, who believed that during reconstruction, quote, all the whites and are part of the country lived under a black and fearful cloud. We have to fight for the sunshine or liberty. Of liberty. He put people in office who declared during the campaign that the Democratic Party was the only Political Party that could be counted on to keep the negro out, not only of its own ranks but out of the Governmental Affairs of the state. And he put people in office who argued the ku klux klan served a noble cause. Wilson underscored his philosophies and supported the secretarys efforts to shape departments in the way they saw fit. On the surface this was a rather an exceptional case of managerial laissezfaire, but wilson was not innocent. He could have predicted his cabinet secretaries would quickly do what they too deemed fair and sympathetic. They began to segregate the federal workforce. These changes were dictated at the local levels. There was no single type of discriminatory behavior. They also happened without a paper trail. Most likely because the secretaries felt there was no need to commit to paper that which was in the natural order of things. Changes ranged from a dramatic loss of Job Opportunities for blacks, to the physical reorganization of work space. Eric, who wrote the definitive history of this, described the ways in which black professional opportunities began to change once wilsons regime took hold. He pointed out that barriers in conveniences and indignities cropped up that narrowed the promise of Civil Service employment for all africanamericans. When comparing the four years of the Taft Administration that proceeded wilson and the first four years of wilson, the differences are stark. In the analysis, two thirds of black Civil Servants in that half years received promotions. Fewer than 10 were dismissed or demoted. Promotions dropped radically when wilson took office and and outpaced by demotions this missiles which more than tripled. Was the cruele and haphazard nation are nature of segregation practices. It was not unusual in the first year for workers to leave the office on friday, only to return on monday with furniture dramatically rearranged, partitions erected, and whole rooms relocated. A historian offers a striking example. He says, some 300 black women employees in the bureau of printing and engraving returned from a week in november defined to find half of the womens dressing room converted into a colored only dining room. At theted eating engraving bureau horrified the first lady during the tour of the facility. Sources suggest this implementation of jim crow came specifically at her request, at her behest. Regardless of the policies, the policys origin, black women who used the dining hall for years found the lunch table now opened out into commodes. Hundreds of black women were forced to eat in a chorus of flushing toilets and a dining room that now only accommodated 40. If a loss of opportunities and changes to the Physical Plant were not enough, the commitment to segregate the workforce involved acts of cultural pettiness. In the department of the treasury, which employed the largest number of black Civil Servants, the secretary already order the separation of the races when he took things a step further. He ordered the black employees could not be considered for promotion and required new forms of address for some department workers. Letters Going Forward to black workers were not to receive the standard address of sir or madam, nor to be signed, respectfully yours. Williams determination to make systemic changes in the department of the treasury changing the way people work and the layout of the work floor and the way people were addressed was a reflection of a deep commitment to make sure africanamericans stayed in their place. Wilson took no responsibility for the departments actions. It was a local matter. The editor of the new york evening post and founder of the ncaa and seek wilson quote, sincerely believed this to be in blacks interest. Wilsons faith reaches back to his upbringing. In 1905, one of wilsons best friends from graduate School Published a historical romance of the ku klux klan. This book, a glorification of the klan and repudiation a black citizenship rights, became the basis for dw griffiths 1915 film the birth of a nation. He admired the segregationist policies deployed in washington and wrote to wilson directly on the matter, saying, the establishment of negro men over white women has in the minds of many thoughtful men and women long been a series against the a serious offense against the cleanness of our social life. The same sentiment is found throughout his book and is one of the narrative plot lines in griffiths film. The birth of a nation, the climactic scenes of the newly freed black man stocks a white woman who only avoids being raped by leaping off a cliff. She retaliates by lynching a man and organizing the klan. They protect white womanhood and redeem the south. From a technical standpoint, the film was unlike anything that had been on screen before. Due in part to its technological wizardry, the film was a smash. It played to soldout theaters across the country, bringing in over 10 million in its first release. In some markets, they were able to charge moviegoers an unheard of price of 2. 00 to enter. The films special effects were not the only reason for the films success. Even though it went to Great Lengths to mythologize the it represented, itself as an accurate representation of history. For many of its viewers, the film was an affirmation of what they already knew. Blacks cannot be civilized and are therefore incapable of the responsibilities of citizenship and black men could not control their sexual desires. They therefore coveted white women. Im going to share a clip. Cross your fingers that this works. Im going to share clip that captures a lot of the things i just mentioned. [video clip] dr. Holloway part of the films success is due to the fact that it received Woodrow Wilsons enthusiastic endorsement. After a private screening in the white house, the first film shown in that building, wilson is alleged to have declared it was history. The film was not universally admired. It earned the ire of the naacp. They famously referred to it as three miles of filth. A brief canvassing of the template contents gives an idea of the dismay. Grave injustice, pernicious morally, a fascination of a race , and sowing the seeds of strife. Garrisons contribution conveys the tone of the pamphlet. I quote from most of it, i testify that i consider the birth of a nation improper and immoral and unjust for the colored people of the country. I further testify that if the matter of race were eliminated, the play would be, and my judgment, unfit for public production since there is a suggestiveness about it of the kind which physicians know incites to crime with certain types of minds. The attack upon the negro is entirely unnecessary. In my judgment, it is a deliberate attempt to humiliate 10 million american citizens and portray them as nothing but beasts. The play should not be tolerated in any american city. The naacps efforts caught the attention of the white house. Through his personal secretary, wilson tried to distance himself from the film. He said he agreed to the screening as a favor of an old friend but disagreed with the films argument in favor of racial violence. While historians do not know whether wilson actually said the films history was enlightening, we do take seriously his claims about his ignorance of the character of the film. Although wilson was opposed to lynching, he was in line with other things that drove the narrative. In a letter to wilsons secretary, dixon wrote, the real purpose of my film was to revolutionize northern sentiments by a presentation of history that would transform every man in my audience into a good dinner cap. Bery man who comes out will. Southern democrat for life later, dixon would write to wilson saying, this play is transforming the entire population into sympathetic southern voters. There will never be an issue with your segregation policy. These letters are instructive to understand the real connection between the political and the cultural. For him, there was no mistaking the fact that the two ways of navigating the world informed one another. He viewed his book and griffiths film as part of an investment in stoking political change. In trying to distance himself from the film, wilson was following a familiar script. He encountered criticism for encouraging segregation in the Civil Service system and he pointed to the department heads. This did not change the idea that drove the action in the first place. Wilson didnt literally segregate the federal government, nor if we believe his personal secretary, did he endorse the film. However, determining whether wilson was the architect or implementer is a case of splitting hairs. He had a clear sense of the racial hierarchy in which blacks were in the service of whites and that jim crow brought the rational order that was critical to wilsons ambitions for progressive reform. There is also no mistaking the fact the idea that fueled the segregation of the federal workforce and those that captured the adoration of the public were ideas that had consequences. Africanamericans lost their that aome of the best black person could get in that era, because of wilsons worldview. Furthermore, some of the racial hiring practices became normalized. One of the conclusions of a 1948 report on the persistence of segregation in washington made the point clear. Quoting colored people of washington have never recovered from the blow that struck them in the time of Woodrow Wilson. The example set by the government has been one of exclusion and segregation in menial jobs. The material consequences of the film took root more quickly. The suggestion that the movie should be banned because of violence the success of the film was directly tied to the resurgence of the ku klux klan in the late 1920s. A quick interlude. I want to show an image. This is gordon parks very famous photograph, American Gothic featuring a scrub woman named ella watson. I am not making a claim that ella watson had any different career, but it was the narrative of a blacks place with the American Flag tells a larger and deeper story about blacks place in society. Princeton. Remembering a history and a community. Remembering the history and the community. It plays better on the page. Although wilson explored the idea of running for a third term, democrats advised against his seeking the nomination. He moved out of the white house in 1921. His health had been compromised for years and he failed to improve when he left office. He died in february 1924. Wilsons legacy lived on and remains vexing today. All president s are measured by the distance between their rhetoric and their policies. When it comes to wilson, the distance seems greater than most. As an historian observes, wilson voiced a vision of american possibility much more expensive than the crushing meanness he helped put into practice. Perhaps because wilson guided the country during the first world i, his rhetoric took on greater import and resonated for far more loudly than his predecessors did. While the promise of his vision was not met by sustained reality, wilsons call for a universal to million of right was heard by many africanamericans as a promise worth pursuing. In the fall of 2015, 100 years after wilson screened the birth of a nation, students expressed their anger over the distance between wilsons rhetoric and the fact that the university seemed unconcerned about the troubling aspects of wilsons legacy and the lack of concern was manifested in the failure to recruit and support students and faculty from underrepresented minority groups. For these students, 21st century princeton was not that different from the one over which wilson presided. While this is a clear over simplification, the trustees recognized there needed to be a much more robust accounting of wilsons complex legacies, and they created the Wilson Legacy review committee. This committee was charged with considering how the university ofuld assess wilson in light how effective the university structure, and the ways in which his commitment to a racial hierarchy was out of line with the universitys modern vision. At the center of the debate was the fact that wilsons name was connected to or adorned places of prestige throughout the campus. The Woodrow Wilson school of public and international affairs, Woodrow Wilson college, the Woodrow Wilson award, the Woodrow Wilson professorship of english, the Woodrow Wilson scholars program, and so on. In each instance, deploying wilsons name was a mark of high esteem. Even though some students declared that princeton had not substantially changed since wilsons era, the fact of the matter is the university had changed significantly, if belatedly, in measurable ways. The measurement was mostly related in terms of demographic change over time. Women, racial, sexual, and religious minorities, international students, all were now regular members of the community. However, the vestiges of earlier ideologies lingered. It wasnt just about Woodrow Wilson. His name was the most easily attached to the set of values that the university no longer admired in full. The Legacy Review Committee acknowledged this and made it clear it was committed to a university that was welcoming and inclusive. While the Committee Recommended that wilsons name remain attached to the various buildings and awards, it declared that princeton was obliged to be a better and more honest steward over its history, acknowledging the complexity of wilsons legacies, particularly that which was not in line with the university. Understandably, when talking about the princeton community, the report focused upon the student and faculty expenses. It also pointed to alumni and staff. This last group merited the least amount of attention. It garnered only six mentions compared to the 17 times it referenced alumni. Further, when talking about staff at the university, the report alluded to the contributions of administrative staff. One imagines this group being comprised of administrative assistants and Research Technicians and advisers. Gone unmentioned were the staff who tended the lawns and cooked the meals and fixed the plumbing. While i do not have the racial demographics of this part of the princeton community, it is a safe bet that africanamericans are at minimum disproportionatelly represented in that population. Enter the artist mario moore. He was a fellow at princeton in the 20182019 academic year. Moore decided to paint 10 bluecollar princeton workers, a recognition of his own fathers efforts to support the family when he was growing up in detroit. All of moores subjects are black, a hearkening to the long struggle for Job Opportunities and equal play. Equalpaper youd pay. Given the historic invisibility of black labor on college campuses, moores work was a declaration that if princeton had to wrestle with the complexities of its past, it would do well to have an honest reckoning of the on acknowledged work that kept the university running. This is not a princeton image but a yale image. Can we dim the lights a little bit for the screen . This was found in archives at yale by the dean of art. It is just titled garden party. We dont know the photographer or the location. In the middle of the image, you find a black bartender. This is yale in the 1950s. There are women, but they are all attached to the men. Everybody in suits. And literally nobody paying attention to the bartender. It is a moment in time. This is more metaphorical than factual. You see all this whiteness in the garden and a sole black figure invisible until someone needs a drink. Thank you. Moores work is a declaration that if princeton needs to wrestle with its is going to wrestle with its past, it would do well to have an honest recognition of the work that built the university. This is work that wilson would not have recognized at princeton or in the white house. One of the difficult truths is that his decision shaped the world around him but he never saw and did not deign to imagine. Some images from mario moores series. I will give princeton credit. I dont know which ones, but of the 10 paintings, they bought three or four of them. These are beautiful paintings. He actually asked the people he painted to tell him what they wanted, where they wanted to be depicted. Sometimes it was not of labor. Clyde sky high. Garfield. Several lifetimes. These are the titles that moore gave to each of the paintings. Part four. Washington, d. C. , the intimate legacies of racial thinking. The last observation, the distance between wilsons lived experience and the way he affected the world around him, leads me to my most personal thoughts. Woodrow wilson was president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. For reasons i need not mention, he left an indelible mark on the nation and the world. Africanamericans assessment of wilsons legacy is more complicated. His commitment to racial erasure at princeton contributed to a logic at the school that set that said homogeneity needed to be preserved. Generations of black workers encountered new obstacles to advance professionally, to provide for their families and pass on generational growth. Generational wealth. I stand before you as someone who has benefited from the accumulation of social status because of my parents education and work as well as their parents education and work. But there is a caveat, and it is embodied in the work history of my paternal grandfather John Holloway. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but i know his story well. I can condense it. He entered Howard University school of law in the late 1920s when it required a twoyear evening course of study to earn a degree. In his second year, the school changed the degree requirements in order to secure accreditation. His classmates encouraged him to join in a claim to be made whole, given that the school changed terms without notice. With two Young Children at home and no guarantees of the plaintiffs winning the case, he took the best job he could find. He worked in the house of representatives cafeteria. He became the captain of waiters in the Senate Dining room. This was a job with security, a rarity in black america, but it was a job he found humiliating because his education suggested a different future. Despite his frustration, he dedicated himself to his work and built relationships with congressmen. He even secured a coveted appointment to west point for his son, my father, through his political connections. To my grandfathers dismay, his son forged his own path, one that ironically enough took him into the air force officer candidate school four years later. A few years before i was born, John Holloway was stricken with cancer. I dont know what kind but i know he fought as long as he could. In 1965, he had no fight left in him and he passed away. His death affected the family but it also moved leading figures to write letters. One of them kept in the family as a complicated treasure of some sort was a letter from Vice President of the United States Hubert Humphrey. On august 11, 1965, Vice President humphrey wrote the following to my grandmother. I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of your husband john. Please let me extend to you my heartfelt sympathies. Your husband was a fine gentleman who discharged his duties well. By all inwn and loved the senate and all those who came he came in contact with. We all have lost a wonderful friend and one who is truly a credit to his race. He will be missed by all of us after leaving the air force in 1974, my father moved into the federal government as a chief of staff to a representative. He also served as a delegate to the Democratic Party in maryland. In other words, he was woven into the federal Democratic Party machine. His faith in the party was challenged from time to time. On those occasions, humphreys letter came up as an example of the partys shortsightedness and its failure to recognize blacks. Complexs full and humanity. When my father would talk about the letter, his anger would be evident. A credit to his race . One day, my father decided to confront humphrey when he saw him at a reception. Predictably, humphrey had no recollection of the letter. But he did remember my grandfather and fondly so. Most likely someone else wrote the note of condolence, placed it before humphrey for his signature, and posted the letter. Reasonable enough. My grandfather was a credit to his race was undoubtedly meant as a compliment but it reinforced a set of ideas about who belonged in what place. It is not about humphrey but the cultural views that become political positions and fuelually policies that the articulation of political views. And the process continues. A nation is shaped by this kind of process. It is one of cultural visions tied to expressions of power and policy to see the world in a particular way. When we think about Woodrow Wilson we can say many things, so much is worthy of remembering. When we assess wilsons racial memory, however, we discover his commitment to not see the consequences that extended well beyond his lifetime. I know that wilsons views did not personally derail my grandfathers professional aspirations but the logic informing the president s worldview fit neatly in a committment to maintain social and political order in which people could be a credit to their race while their humanity was stripped away. Thank you. [applause] we have a few minutes. Im going to say we have 15 minutes. Im going to start the conversation, but then we will try and open up and get some questions and comments from the floor. Jonathan, i want to end up with your observation about who belongs in what place. And the impact wilson had not on White America but on africanamerican america. And this was a time when a generation you have written about, a rather remarkable generation in every aspect of american life, emerged from the africanamerican community. Sometimes it is referred to as the new negro generation. It also is a generation that was born more or less in the 1890s. They were comingofage directly during wilsons tenure as president. People like ralph bunch you have written about langston hughes, locke, logan, hurston. It really turned out to be a very significant generation of people. And part of what was driving them was clearly the desire to prove that they deserved to be in a certain place. Im wondering if you could say a few words about them and about the remarkable response to the cultural environment youre describing as a way of maybe rounding out the picture little bit. Dr. Holloway 15 minutes, huh . I wrote a book on the topic literally. [laughter] dr. Holloway its interesting. You mentioned six names. This is really important related to the talk. All but one of them were based in washington, d. C. And this is part of the complication, the tragedy, the frustration, whatever word you want to use, of the Wilson Legacy in d. C. There was already a really vibrant, not fully free, not fully independent black community but a very vibrant black community. The best Public High School for blacks in the country was in washington, d. C. , and a lot of the children of the people you mentioned went to dumbarton high school, which got decimated by ports versus brown v. Board of education. That is one of the small ironies of our world. But black washington was a really remarkable place. He was a vibrant scene in new york city in the 1920s and 1930s and 1940s. Uc district, seventh and t, Howard University, etc. But, black washington. That is one of the reasons why wilsons behavior with the administrator was so unsettling to the population in d. C. The black population. Because he was a place far from perfect, but a place where blacks had potential. Now, within black washington was interracial tension that also ran along class lines. But there was a sense of possibility in black washington you did not see in other places. So, when this resegregation order came in, that was a shock to a system. We are not talking about thousands of people. But the symbolic importance of washington in general is just, you know, is massive. Within black washington, not just in wilsons time but through fdrs and the creation of became known as the black cabinet, to elevate a handful overly prominent people like ralph bunch, they became national figureheads. Figureheads of possibility. So, when we talk about the challenge of the legacy of wilsons segregation order, we are talking about more than anything else, the symbolic damage that actually close doors to possibilities for other generations who saw black washington as real opportunity. Why dont we open it up, because time is limited. Im going to try to take a couple of questions and then we will come up to the floor. And we do have microphones. We will come down here to John Milton Cooper first. If youre thinking of questions, please let me know. Thank you, that was a wonderful talk. I would also like to add my congratulations for you become ing one of the two best universities route one in central new jersey. I could, you know, friends, romans and countrymen, lend my me your ears. That is the famous line of one of the greatest con jobs in all of literature, of course. I think wilson i have no defense whatever for the segregation policy, none at all. If you wanted something of an explanation, and this is something that my dear friend and i used to talk about, he said he could understand why wilson would bow to this kind of thing, that these southern cabinet secretaries wanted to institute. He said, he had a southern base. He was a democrat with a southern base. Whats more, the great migration was just, just barely beginning. So, there was no yet africanamerican Political Base in the north or very little. So, that is just a plain political arithmetic involved. Wilson, wilson as a southerner, that is a very complicated question. He was an accidental virginian. His parents had moved there from ohio. He had no american board ran parents, the only president since Andrew Jackson with no americanborn grandparents. He grew up within this presbyterian world, which to some extent insulated him from the surrounding environment. And what i found very, very puzzling and frustrating was in trying to get into his early life, and the sources on it are not as good as they are, for example, for theodore roosevelt. Africanamericans are invisible. And that awful scene from worth , birth of a nation, wilson was a kid in Columbia South carolina, at that time. Two of his early biographers, who bless their hard work , journalists, baker, never interviewed any of the black servants from there. The only one who did was William Allen white. I never found any notes he kept and it was extremely frustrating to me. Forgive me, one thing he did not thing you did not mention about the princeton thing was his inauguration as president in 1902. Who did he say he gave the best speech at that inauguration . Dr. Holloway i confess i do not know. Booker t. Washington. Some of his southern relatives were scandalized. If i knew he would be here, i would not have come. One of his daughters said, even better than your speech, father . So it is mixed. The mas, thats the seminary. And the question is, what is the college, what is the seminary on that . The other thing, birth of a nation. No, he did not say that. Sorry, i was a little taken aback when i saw history written by lightning. That was invented 20 years later by a magazine writer. He never endorsed the movie. Someone went to some length to try to find with the screening was like and interviewed the last surviving person whod been there. She said, the president seemed preoccupied and distracted and just left. He never endorsed it and later tried to resist the rerelease on the grounds it would stir up too much. So he is complicated. And to me, i think wilson, the president he resembles most in this regard is jefferson. You have an awful record on race, and how do you balance it with all of the other great things . Dr. Holloway thank you for all of that. You are right about booker t. Washington, it certainly merits mentioned in that regard. But washington himself was incredibly complicated, thinking of the black communitys reception. We could go on and on in these ways. But i do take your point. I hadnt thought, he is very much like jefferson in that regard
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