The stil prevailing democracy to our holders of political power should be more attentive to the signs to society modern Western democracy is a sustainable community Americans love from Europe
6
In George Washington’s day, slave labor was embraced as an acceptable practice. To disparage him and his critical role in founding this nation, for owning several such laborers would seem to be tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Few significant leaders (or friends) are free of warts, but we value them, warts and all. Few of those, at Princeton University, who would reject Woodrow Wilson and his contributions because he had a few warts conceptually similar to those displayed openly and unashamedly by George Washington, are likely to appreciate that basic truth, or appreciate the sentiment embodied in a toast attributed to Steven Decatur “ My country! . . . .(M)ay she always be in the right, but my country right or wrong”.
13
George Washington didn't reinstitute a form of oppression that had been overcome. Wilson did.
351
Didn't George Washington have slaves? Perhaps we should rename a few towns, bridges, streets, universities and our nation's capitol. Times have changed. We can't change past behavior and thinking to suit more current thinking.
14
Why is this being brought up now? History is what it is and we can't change what happened. What's important is that we do our best to prevent any form of human indignities or atrocities from happening again.
31
We are a racist country and that really hasn't changed.
We bomb other countries sometimes for decades, but when they bomb us we call it terrorism.
We call ourselves the land of the brave. Yeah the land of the racists and cowards.
We bomb other countries sometimes for decades, but when they bomb us we call it terrorism.
We call ourselves the land of the brave. Yeah the land of the racists and cowards.
113
Was Woodrow Wilson a racist--yes. What Woodrow Wilson alone in his racissm--no. He espoused views widely shared by white Americans--especially politicians and national leaders. Will pillorying Wilson solve the problems and race and racism in America--no. Will pillorying Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, FDR make a difference--no. Better to learn from their examples, mistakes, and prejudices rather than erase whole chapters of American history as too "painful" or troubling.
33
In order to make our nation truly great, we need to admit to past injustices and attempt to not repeat them. With the rise of people like Donald Trump and his supporters, I am not seeing that happening - at least to the degree we need.
110
So now we judge people from the past by the standards of today? How about getting rid of all those founders who had slaves? Those that well had relations with their slaves? Lots of things done in the past look pretty bad today.
22
What does the name on the school signify? Is it for a Princeton official? Is it for a President? Is it for an act or acts? If it is for a US President then maybe it should come down. If it is for public policy or some other notions then maybe it can stay up and have a display focusing on those works instead of the man. Wilson is part of history and can't be erased. What is there to be admired and what mistakes are to be learned from and avoided in the future?
5
As Richard Cohen wrote in Real Clear Politics, "we have an obligation to place historical figures in the context of their times and to accord them what they, in some instances, did not accord others: understanding. Woodrow Wilson was not one thing or another. He was one thing and another. It's a lesson Princeton should teach."
27
Until I read this, I thought the Wilson simply was a man of his time, but I can see that he was not typical. He was a malign influence. His name should be removed wherever it is.
171
I the think it's fine that Princeton honored Wilson as a way of underscoring the great good that he did; and that it will be fine now to dishonor him for the serious harm that he did.
His racism didn't enter into the thinking of those who honored him (I hope); but now that it has entered into our thinking it has become a highly relevant issue. And how can that be anything but a good thing?
His racism didn't enter into the thinking of those who honored him (I hope); but now that it has entered into our thinking it has become a highly relevant issue. And how can that be anything but a good thing?
68
This is why all of American history must be taught. Being a man of his time Wilson held the view of many white Americans that black Americans were to be "kept in their place". I would have liked to have learned about this in history class. Our American history is a mixture of good and bad but when it comes to racial policy we are deaf, dumb and blind. On changing the name I'm not sure, the legacy of slavery has left a stain on many white persons of high rank. There certainly should be some education around the legacy of white supremacy in the U.S.A.
53
Sounds like Woodrow Wilson is to Black People as Andrew Jackson is to Cherokees. They both set out to destroy an entire race and with the "Non Action of Good Men" largely succeeded. Take the Genocidal Jackson off the 20 bill for a starter and his statue down from the County Seat where I live. Granted the New York Times is a big platform but this needs to be further exposed and references to WW need to spell out his complete legacy. Many of the racial issues we see today were created by disenfranchising Black Individuals who had the capability and capacity to make a decent living once upon a time.
93
Wilson wan't the greatest educator he's obviously and blindly made out to be. It looks from historical truth about him that the Princeton Students are right. His name should be expunged from the places about the school where it is found, and the places bearing it renamed for someone with far better and far more universally humane ethics--how about Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR's conscience in so many matters?
64
I recall learning about Wilson's "14 Points" in high school history. He was lauded as a great president. But nothing was ever taught about his racist views. So glad this is coming out now. Changing the names on some buildings at Princeton makes sense for that institution. But doing so isn't going to erase his mark on history. Instead, the knowledge of his vicious racist policies in government employment should be included in the overall picture of his career in politics and his presidency.
92
Wilson's record on women's rights, (property and voting especially) ain't so hot either. I don't understand how this guy is considered a great president (according to the article). President of Princeton, New Jersey governor, whatever, he was a transplanted racist southerner. As facts like this become available, how we handle it is important. If Bill Cosby is striped of his honorary degrees and his star is removed from the sidewalk in Hollywood, maybe Wilson's name needs to removed from buildings, etc. at Princeton.
82
Wanting to like WWilson, i find that G.Davis has not described the action that WWilson took that led to this awful policy and its implementation. I don't doubt that he did it and that it was his action that caused the shameful demotion of JA Davis, but a clear statement of the mechanism seemed to me a missing element in the narrative. All that's included is "with Wilson's approval". Help me understand the degree of Wilson's culpability.
11
I was about the write in knee-jerk fashion a "there they go again" type of missive, on how the PC police once again is running rampant wanting to re-write history because not everyone in the US' past was either a saint or saintly-enough to meet today's standards. But . . . upon reading this, I now think something ought to be done to recognize the bad deeds done by many of our long-cherished leaders from the past, to balance the gauzy positive stories that we heard over the centuries and decades. If there are to be edifices commemorating persons like Wilson, why not include detailed plaques that describe the good and the bad done by these fellows, making sure to note that buildings and other facilities were named after many so-called heroes at a time when leaders back then purposefully avoided the bad deeds. That way, you can still have the prominently-named edifice, but with a detailed explanations about persons and all of their pluses and minuses. That way we recognize peoples' contributions to the US, but also own up to the continuing struggle to make our's a more perfect nation.
35
As the author notes, Wilson "is mostly remembered as a progressive, internationalist statesman, a benign and wise leader, a father of modern American political science and one of our nation’s great presidents."
"But he was also an avowed racist."
Putting aside the issue of "avowed," the author cannot seem to grasp that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Just as we owe our much of our core principles to Thomas Jefferson, nobody denies the evil of his slave ownership (he didn't deny it either).
On the whole, Wilson contributed much greater good to the world than ill. It's amazing that in an era where the term "progressive" has been rehabilitated on the Left and is being worn as a badge of honor, we are in the process of a Stalinist-like erasing of one of our most successful progressive leaders.
"But he was also an avowed racist."
Putting aside the issue of "avowed," the author cannot seem to grasp that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. Just as we owe our much of our core principles to Thomas Jefferson, nobody denies the evil of his slave ownership (he didn't deny it either).
On the whole, Wilson contributed much greater good to the world than ill. It's amazing that in an era where the term "progressive" has been rehabilitated on the Left and is being worn as a badge of honor, we are in the process of a Stalinist-like erasing of one of our most successful progressive leaders.
9
What is unpleasant in Wilson's behavior was that he wasn't simply going along with the times - an excuse we can provide for some of the Founding Fathers. He deliberately undid the policies of his predecessors, namely McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Both Republican Presidents went out of their way to hire talented African Americans for government jobs, very often in the consular service, symbolically representing the U.S. abroad. An example of this is in France, where the U.S. consul at La Rochelle (an important port at the time) was a certain Doctor Henry George Jackson, who incidentally founded the LR Rugby Association that is still active today. He was very much a part of the social life for nearly twenty years when he too was recalled on the eve of WW1. For these nominations Roosevelt was vilified in the Southern press. I won't discuss WIlson's policies strong-arming the U.S. into the War and carving up the world after - but in domestic politics he was very much a part of the vicious backlash that set back the fragile march towards equality for many decades. So I can easily understand Mr Davis' point of view.. All things considered however, to scrupulously indict Wilson (and FDR for that matter) for their racial policies shouldn't detract from their prominence elsewhere. I for one am against changing long established names, but wholly in favor of naming buildings after people who played an outstanding role in fighting bias.
28
Slavery goes back tens of thousands of years and many slaves were as white as white can be. Many of the white people in America today had ancestors that were dirt poor peasants exploited by feudal lords. Life has always been hard and brutal.
We can focus on the past and re-open wounds. We can focus on the past and vent hate and anger. Another alternative is to look to the future and heal. Dr. King provided us with a solution that seems to be rejected by many: integration. To integrate means to unify or combine separate elements into "one". i.e. an integrated circuit combines multiple circuits into one circuit.
If we believe Dr. King to be a great man, an educated man, than we must conclude he was proposing a monocultural solution. Dr. Kings suggests we judge each other not by the color of our skin but by the contents of our hearts. Dr King's dream was of one America, open to all people of any color and creed. According to Dr Kings doctrine of Integration Black people should be joining with White People who will accept them as equals. It is about unification not division. United we stand; divided we fall.
One America...
We can focus on the past and re-open wounds. We can focus on the past and vent hate and anger. Another alternative is to look to the future and heal. Dr. King provided us with a solution that seems to be rejected by many: integration. To integrate means to unify or combine separate elements into "one". i.e. an integrated circuit combines multiple circuits into one circuit.
If we believe Dr. King to be a great man, an educated man, than we must conclude he was proposing a monocultural solution. Dr. Kings suggests we judge each other not by the color of our skin but by the contents of our hearts. Dr King's dream was of one America, open to all people of any color and creed. According to Dr Kings doctrine of Integration Black people should be joining with White People who will accept them as equals. It is about unification not division. United we stand; divided we fall.
One America...
11
There is a difference between confronting the past and expunging it. Unfortunately, while the intentions here are good the instincts are, in the end, a slippery slope to a form of totalitarianism. Totalitarianism always demands the erasure of the past in the belief that they are the Ones with Enlightenment who have discovered Truth and the way to a Brave New World.
What happened to this man's grandfather was an injustice but injustices were done in the past, are being done today and will be done tomorrow. While some who do injustice have evil intentions, others are well intentioned. Wilson was born in the South in 1856 and would have personally experienced the Civil War and its immediate aftermath and his view of the world was affected by that experience. His own experience resulted in some actions that did much good and other actions that did great harm.
The demand that Wilson's name be expunged from the halls of Princeton is well intentioned but will the world really be a better place because of it? I doubt it. The better instincts here are that the past needs to be acknowledged and confronted. As it should be. But the worst instincts here are those of a baying mob. The better instincts here will, hopefully, prevail.
What happened to this man's grandfather was an injustice but injustices were done in the past, are being done today and will be done tomorrow. While some who do injustice have evil intentions, others are well intentioned. Wilson was born in the South in 1856 and would have personally experienced the Civil War and its immediate aftermath and his view of the world was affected by that experience. His own experience resulted in some actions that did much good and other actions that did great harm.
The demand that Wilson's name be expunged from the halls of Princeton is well intentioned but will the world really be a better place because of it? I doubt it. The better instincts here are that the past needs to be acknowledged and confronted. As it should be. But the worst instincts here are those of a baying mob. The better instincts here will, hopefully, prevail.
17
Same thing that happened to many thousands of white males when our federal and state agencies started to do quota hiring to make government workforces more "diverse" to the almost comical extent that government publications actually said that the main goal of the Fish and Wildlife Service was to become more diverse. You know as opposed to saving the environment for future generations! And then as if to add an admission of the farcical nature of this naked purchasing of women's votes with government patronage jobs idiocy, the CIA and Supreme Court gained exemptions by saying that their functions were too important to risk not hiring the best applicants. Finally there was an incident in which this white male applying for jobs with Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game was told by a sympathetic supervisor, who did not want me to waste my time ... "don't bother they are only hiring women".
8
I have zero empathy for white males who cry discrimination. White males have enjoyed rights and privileges at the expense of others for centuries.
73
Nothing remotely like what happened to the author's grandfather has ever happened to white men in any institution in this country. According to the Washington Post, the highest positions in most federal government agencies continue to be dominated by white men. There has been nothing like a purge of white men from the federal government, but there has been a relative loss of racial privilege with respect to access to the most sought-after positions. That anyone can seriously suggest that the laudable effort to increase opportunities in the federal government to more diverse groups is the same thing as the racially motivated purge of blacks from virtually all management positions in the federal government illustrates why the issue of race is still so potent and why the Princeton students are quite right to be making this an issue. People who don't know history have a very easy time dismissing it or distorting it to their own ends.
109
The argument that Wilson"s acts should be forgiven because "he was a man of his time" is fallacious. There were other people of that time who stood for what was right and Wilson has no excuse for his ideology, no matter what the date.
In the future do we excuse the decision to vote for the war in Iraq because such and such a politician was a person of their time. Voting based on fear and ignoring the easily discernible facts in front of you in order to get re-elected makes you culpable, not forgivable.
If you applauded every time a bust of Marx was toppled after the fall of the Berlin Wall, then you should get in line to support changing the name of this hall.
In the future do we excuse the decision to vote for the war in Iraq because such and such a politician was a person of their time. Voting based on fear and ignoring the easily discernible facts in front of you in order to get re-elected makes you culpable, not forgivable.
If you applauded every time a bust of Marx was toppled after the fall of the Berlin Wall, then you should get in line to support changing the name of this hall.
90
As a former Princeton professor, I applaud the students for raising this issue. It's not about erasing history, but confronting it honestly. This beautiful column makes clear how Wilson's policies, based on his deeply racist and white-supremacist views, destroyed the lives of thousands of black families. Why should we publicly venerate this person? Why should elitist Northern universities get to insist that we overlook this man's systematic, consequential racism, while every Southerner municipality and retail store is expected to rid itself of monuments and souvenirs of their racist politicians and soldiers. Let's indeed, every American community, take stock of the deeply embedded racism that has been a part of our history (North and South), recognizing that a thoroughgoing accounting will involve reconfiguring our public and institutional spaces in many ways. Because that has yet to be done, and the younger generation of Black militants will, rightly, to be content until it is.
147
The fragility is on full display in these comments!
"Wilson's being struck from history!" - No he's not. Students are demanding to rename the building and the program, not erase him from history books.
"You can't judge using 2015 standards!" - As other have commented, Wilson overturned racial progress to kowtow to the racists elements in society due to belief in that African Americans were inherently less intelligent and championed segregation after it had been reversed by Roosevelt. That is intentional.
"These students are censoring free thought and speech they don't agree with!" - No, they are not taking away your free speech rights. They are only demanding that the Princeton University rename the building and the program to someone who wasn't a bigot and thought you don't belong there based on the color of your skin.
Lest y'all think that this is unheard of: Post WWII Germany was subjected to Denazification or purification. Read up on it; it goes much-much farther than these demands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification
And please stop with the faux outrage. Your jobs aren't threatened and no one is going to gun you down because of your views.
"Wilson's being struck from history!" - No he's not. Students are demanding to rename the building and the program, not erase him from history books.
"You can't judge using 2015 standards!" - As other have commented, Wilson overturned racial progress to kowtow to the racists elements in society due to belief in that African Americans were inherently less intelligent and championed segregation after it had been reversed by Roosevelt. That is intentional.
"These students are censoring free thought and speech they don't agree with!" - No, they are not taking away your free speech rights. They are only demanding that the Princeton University rename the building and the program to someone who wasn't a bigot and thought you don't belong there based on the color of your skin.
Lest y'all think that this is unheard of: Post WWII Germany was subjected to Denazification or purification. Read up on it; it goes much-much farther than these demands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification
And please stop with the faux outrage. Your jobs aren't threatened and no one is going to gun you down because of your views.
70
This current wave of racial protestations is nothing more than college students having nothing relevant to protest about. Removing Wilson's name from Princeton's facilities would be attempting to rewrite history.
Is Davis' story awful? Yes! Was his grandfather done a serious injustice? Of course. But if we were to remove all the names of prominent people in our Country's history because of some wrong-headedness on their part, our history books would probably not contain any names at all.
Do we also remove Washington's and Jefferson's names and tear down the memorials erected in their honor because they held slaves? Do we remove Lincoln's name because he originally wanted to send all the slaves back to Africa?
Yes, terrible things happened as our Country evolved. But we can't just erase them because some college students have nothing better to do than protest.
Is Davis' story awful? Yes! Was his grandfather done a serious injustice? Of course. But if we were to remove all the names of prominent people in our Country's history because of some wrong-headedness on their part, our history books would probably not contain any names at all.
Do we also remove Washington's and Jefferson's names and tear down the memorials erected in their honor because they held slaves? Do we remove Lincoln's name because he originally wanted to send all the slaves back to Africa?
Yes, terrible things happened as our Country evolved. But we can't just erase them because some college students have nothing better to do than protest.
7
To have American history re-written due to the protests of a few students at Princeton, the majority who most likely were only accepted to Princeton through affirmative action, is quite sad.
While I don't condone your grandfather's demotion and those of other Black men due to Wilson the attempt to erase and rewrite history sounds more like the novel 1984.
With all the current problems we are having with Islamic terrorists throughout the world the Black Lies Matter crowd just seem to be so out of touch and self-centered.
While I don't condone your grandfather's demotion and those of other Black men due to Wilson the attempt to erase and rewrite history sounds more like the novel 1984.
With all the current problems we are having with Islamic terrorists throughout the world the Black Lies Matter crowd just seem to be so out of touch and self-centered.
7
Wow. I had to read it 3 times: "a few students . . . the majority of who [sic] most likely were only accepted to Princeton through affirmative action".
Now that's what I call letting one's true colors shine through. Don't you have a Donald Trump rally or some other similar event to attend?
Now that's what I call letting one's true colors shine through. Don't you have a Donald Trump rally or some other similar event to attend?
71
Just as plants reflect the qualities of the soil in which they grow, the decision of those Princeton trustees who so chose to honor Woodrow Wilson reflects an attitude towards Americans of African descent that one hopes the current trustees do not share. It would seem that indeed the Princeton soil has changed to some extent. The Board’s decision in this matter will help us to understand how much.
10
Three points to consider: 1) Wilson's racism attempted to restore white supremacy well AFTER passage of the Reconstruction amendments that made African-Americans citizens of the Republic, and thus his differs from the racism of several Founding "Fathers"; 2) the protests are not an attempt to "erase" or alter history, but rather a questioning of the man's legacy as it relates to Princeton University, a prestigious institution of higher learning; 3) as such, Princeton should consider the feelings of its students who object to its commemoration of a person who, WHILE PRESIDENT, actively injured thousands of citizens.
No apology can change history, but it can let the sun shine again on the Princeton campus.
No apology can change history, but it can let the sun shine again on the Princeton campus.
58
Wilson's name should also be removed for the travesty of dragging the US into WWI. The war resulted in 120,000 US combat deaths in eighteen months and tens of thousands more from the Spanish flu. Deaths caused by the close confinement of troops on US bases and on transports to Europe during the epidemic.
Britain had the better propaganda machine, and thus a war that was based on European grudges only and should have been European only, insyead Wilson dragged in the US. That is old news. And now it comes to light that he was a proactive and avowed racist? How could he have ever been considered one of our best presidents?
Britain had the better propaganda machine, and thus a war that was based on European grudges only and should have been European only, insyead Wilson dragged in the US. That is old news. And now it comes to light that he was a proactive and avowed racist? How could he have ever been considered one of our best presidents?
17
Is there really a bigger learning that the just the obvious the writer pointed out. In the case of President Wilson he 'proactively' pursued policies to continue the destruction of the black family & community. It is that simple and it was embraced by the power structure of the times. We know this was embraced since Wilson was elected twice.
What makes these cases interesting in a sadistic way is that these folks are revered today with their memorials for some other good or success they may have achieved. The Bobby Jones Masters, Woodrow Wilson presidency, Thomas Jefferson polititcs, etc. All these men are tightly woven into the mainstream culture just as the Stars and Bars are in the flag of the South. Main street America remembers the good, the rest of America remembers the family destruction.
So keep Wilson there, maybe with a plaque next to his statute with his full bio.
What makes these cases interesting in a sadistic way is that these folks are revered today with their memorials for some other good or success they may have achieved. The Bobby Jones Masters, Woodrow Wilson presidency, Thomas Jefferson polititcs, etc. All these men are tightly woven into the mainstream culture just as the Stars and Bars are in the flag of the South. Main street America remembers the good, the rest of America remembers the family destruction.
So keep Wilson there, maybe with a plaque next to his statute with his full bio.
5
mark my words: Governor Scott Walker will be remembered the same way Pres. Wilson is being remembered today. Gov. Walker has destroyed the WI civil service system, which gave folks of all persuasions/colors/economic levels access to good paying jobs with good benefits. And those jobs do GOOD things for the people of Wisconsin, like protecting our air and water and teaching our kids.
Both Gov. Walker and Pres. Wilson did it for the same reason: They didn't want "just anyone" to have access to good paying jobs with good benefits. Everyone who has voted for Gov. Walker should be ashamed.
Both Gov. Walker and Pres. Wilson did it for the same reason: They didn't want "just anyone" to have access to good paying jobs with good benefits. Everyone who has voted for Gov. Walker should be ashamed.
25
The only difference being that there doesn't seem to be any significant good that Walker has done, while Wilson did.
11
Walt Whitman probably put it best in "Song of Myself":
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself.
I am large.
I contain multitudes.
Because that's often the only answer I have.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself.
I am large.
I contain multitudes.
Because that's often the only answer I have.
8
This is an important article, and I'm glad I read it. Wilson was the first Southern native-born elected president since Reconstruction (Andrew Johnson wasn't elected). His racism not only reflected the country's attitudes during that time but also was likely inbred by the environment he grew up in. (He wasn't from New Jersey as often thought.) His important place in American history is undeniable, but I was never taught anything about his racist, segregationist, pro-Klan views in either high school or college. He deserves to be reevaluated now that light is being shed on the truth about him that's been largely ignored until now. His name should be removed from Princeton University's facilities, just as the Confederate flag is being removed in the South.
35
I have female friend who was in the first class of women admitted to Princeton. Though she was the only student in her Latin class who knew the answer to a professors question, he refused to call on her. The was in the early 70's. Woodrow Wilson was doing what Trump's supporters are doing now. Demonize, and demote anyone who might actually be competition. A black man becomes president, so they fear that other black people will take "their" jobs. It's so obvious it's sickening.
43
I am glad Mr. Davis wrote this account and i accept it as accurate. But, he and others ask to have the actions of historical furies judged by modern criteria, and that is very wrong. What is next, changing the name of the Nation's capital because Mr. Washington was a slaveowner?
4
Racism apologists will totally ignore this account, and term anyone who supports removing Wilson's name "sensitive." However, it is them who are being sensitive. Wilson, by imposing racist white ideologies about the alleged inabilities of black Americans, enabled white supremacy, especially in the South, to persist where racist governments now continuously attempt to revive "separate, but equal," and suppress blacks at every possible turn. But his policies of giving them non-competitive handouts were also detrimental to white Southerners, as evidenced by sub-par education, stalled economic growth, clinging to guns, myth and religion, and the constant fear of losing something to black people who they still think are 'looking for handouts' (like they have enjoyed), and are actually inferior to them. To see vestiges of white supremacy destroyed is terrifying to them, but to see black students doing the re-ordering is doubly so.
12
Right and wrong are not contingent upon time period. Right always has been right. Wrong always has been wrong. We should NOT judge Wilson or anyone else based on the commonly held beliefs about right and wrong during his time period. We should judge him - and everyone - on the commonly held beliefs about right and wrong in ALL time periods. The fact that our ancestors chose not to follow what they knew to be right, and instead owned slaves and practiced racism does not excuse them from being wrong. Think about how we judge the German people who lived in Nazi German during the Holocaust. Do we question whether or not their choice to allow the slaughter of Jews to take place right under their noses was right or wrong? No. And neither did they. And neither do their descendants. Spend a little time in Germany and Austria, and you'll hear them say so. It was wrong. And just because slavery was practiced out in the open and commonly, that does not make it "right" for the time period but wrong if it were to happen now. Morality is not contingent upon time period. Popularly held beliefs are not right simply because they are popular. I am ashamed of our country's practice of slavery, and I should be. So should you. Not to be ashamed of it would mean that I am complicit in their actions, and it would mean that I am currently perpetuating racism IN MY OWN TIME.
36
Beautifully stated. It was inconvenient for slave owners to do the right thing. Wilson knew it was wrong. He just chse not to do right.
14
One of my favorite aspects of studying history is the opportunity for me to discover the antecedents of where we find ourselves today and then to imagine how different things might be if some of that history were different. I have admired Woodrow Wilson's legacy for some time and this aspect of it has only now come to light for me. When I imagine how our history could have been if he had not done what he did I can only grieve for the people he hurt and the damage he did to the evolution of my country. I sincerely thank the students at Princeton for bringing this to my attention and deepening my awareness of our history.
35
Historians are well aware of the dangers of presentism, of judging historical personages by present-day values rather than those of their own era. However, Gordon J. Davis has reminded us that actions are different from values, and that President Wilson's actions were gratuitous, i.e., unnecessary, and extraordinarily damaging to hard-working Americans who had offended no one with their actions. Rather the reverse, in fact. Thanks to Mr. Davis for this instructive essay. Here is a humble suggestion for Princeton University. Remove Mr. Wilson's name from a prominent facility and rename it for John Abraham Davis, with explanation for visitors.
19
Forgive? Maybe.
Forget? Never.
Teach? Always...
Forget? Never.
Teach? Always...
15
I find articles like this very interesting and illuminating.
I never knew nor would have even THOUGHT that Wilson
was of such a low character and integrity.
I am a history buff and this was NEVER mentioned in any info
i have read and certainly was NOT covered in any history class.
I am not black but I am of a minority that also has suffered
exclusion, descrimination and unfairness.
While Wilson was a " product " of his time, as President of the ENTIRE
people of the US........he SHOULD have risen above that. What he did
was unfair, i believe illegal and just down right mean. I dont think he is
worthy of " forgiveness " or overlook.
Unlike many muslims nowadays ( not ALL muslims ), there were NO black
people who advocated killing, murder, forcing their religion on others,
and ALL the terrible descriminations that come with being an observant
muslim.
As this article points out, this was a black American who worked his way up
from the bottom and in NO way deserved his treatment.
Since ALL of Wilson's treachery is a matter of record, I fully believe that ANY
positive reference to his name or legacy should be erased.
I never knew nor would have even THOUGHT that Wilson
was of such a low character and integrity.
I am a history buff and this was NEVER mentioned in any info
i have read and certainly was NOT covered in any history class.
I am not black but I am of a minority that also has suffered
exclusion, descrimination and unfairness.
While Wilson was a " product " of his time, as President of the ENTIRE
people of the US........he SHOULD have risen above that. What he did
was unfair, i believe illegal and just down right mean. I dont think he is
worthy of " forgiveness " or overlook.
Unlike many muslims nowadays ( not ALL muslims ), there were NO black
people who advocated killing, murder, forcing their religion on others,
and ALL the terrible descriminations that come with being an observant
muslim.
As this article points out, this was a black American who worked his way up
from the bottom and in NO way deserved his treatment.
Since ALL of Wilson's treachery is a matter of record, I fully believe that ANY
positive reference to his name or legacy should be erased.
10
The writer has convinced me that there should be some renaming after all.
I am glad to see that simple party membership is no longer the gateway to being part of the ''in crowd'' at least for the deceased. If what we actually do matters after all, this will be a good thing.
I am glad to see that simple party membership is no longer the gateway to being part of the ''in crowd'' at least for the deceased. If what we actually do matters after all, this will be a good thing.
8
While so many of the prominent American politicians had terrible views of minorities, the answer may not be in stripping their names from buildings. It's more about openly and honestly talking about the legacy of their actions.
This column is just one excellent example.
This column is just one excellent example.
4
Instead of removing Wilson's name, shine a bright light on his racism. Remove half of the Princeton exhibits on his career (at Wilson School and elsewhere), and replace them with exhibits and other educational materials on his racist actions and legacy. Show his good and bad sides equally, so the name Wilson stands for both. I suggested the same solution at my alma mater, Calhoun College at Yale. More light and truth is the answer, not censorship.
7
Wilson was a product of his times. He was a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. He despised Italians, Jews, Eastern & Southern Europeans and the Irish because they were Catholic. He said Italians were prone to criminality and that the Irish were drunks. He had the same opinion of Jews as most WASPS did in his time-they were disloyal, conniving, sneaky cheats in business and everything else. Why would you expect him to be loving of African-Americans when he hated all "hyphenated" Americans. It really is time for Jews and Africans to realize that it wasn't a picnic for the rest of the immigrants and "others" in dealing with American "exceptionalism" just as new arrivals are experiencing today.
6
Jew here, just wanted to chime in that there are many of us (Jews and other minority groups) who are aware that most historical figures were not our best friend, and we would rather focus on moving forward in a good way than looking back and counting all the horrible things done to us. We remember, but we can't let it consume us at the cost of our future.
13
How could Wilson REVERSE decades of progress if he was simply "a man of his times?"
17
The difference is that unlike African Americans, Italians the Irish and many other European's eventually received from this country what is pretty much denied to African Americans to this very day: opportunities and a receding racial and ethnic discrimination against them. Black people(whether you want to believe it or not) are in many, many cases victims of generational poverty, generational ignorance persecution and bear the distinction of being brought here in chains. The Europeans that came through Ellis Island did not come here in chains, but had the privilege of seeking out the freedoms and opportunities this country has to offer.
19
Thank you for writing this important reflection on your grandfather's history. In the many comments I've just read, I haven't really found anything too constructive.
But after reading this, and having read the really great articles recently in The Atlantic, Harper's and other sources, here is a constructive solution that I would like to see accomplished.
Reparations for the countless terrible things, whether destroying livelihoods, sense of identity or self-confidence, or life itself as in lynchings. It should be a Marshall Plan in proportion to the number of descendants of slaves who are living today. It should encompass seeing that students in "black schools" are given the best of teachers and facilities. They should be promised and given scholarships to college if with good teachers and facilities they are able to rise above the terrible miasma that engulfs so many in hopelessness.
With a Marshall plan for all those who today suffer from past racism, the 40 acres and a mule that were promised to them at the time of the Civil War could perhaps finally redeem the past.
Amends need to be made -- if not for the benefit of those who were wronged, it would certainly give our names as America and Americans a lustre all around the world that it has never before had.
But after reading this, and having read the really great articles recently in The Atlantic, Harper's and other sources, here is a constructive solution that I would like to see accomplished.
Reparations for the countless terrible things, whether destroying livelihoods, sense of identity or self-confidence, or life itself as in lynchings. It should be a Marshall Plan in proportion to the number of descendants of slaves who are living today. It should encompass seeing that students in "black schools" are given the best of teachers and facilities. They should be promised and given scholarships to college if with good teachers and facilities they are able to rise above the terrible miasma that engulfs so many in hopelessness.
With a Marshall plan for all those who today suffer from past racism, the 40 acres and a mule that were promised to them at the time of the Civil War could perhaps finally redeem the past.
Amends need to be made -- if not for the benefit of those who were wronged, it would certainly give our names as America and Americans a lustre all around the world that it has never before had.
7
@Mary -
While your plan is certainly ambitious, I have to wonder why you haven't include a pony and a puppy. There is absolutely no way that the White majority in America is going fund an expansive Marshall Plan to compensate present-day minorities for wrongs committed by previous generations. Every time someone in America whispers the word "reparations", Democrats lose five basis points. They are just not realistic at this point in our nation's history.
A more realistic plan would be to address concrete, finite projects that can spur evolutionary change. The best one I can think of is to reform district-based educational funding. That would at least start to tie the fate of black America to the rest of the country.
While your plan is certainly ambitious, I have to wonder why you haven't include a pony and a puppy. There is absolutely no way that the White majority in America is going fund an expansive Marshall Plan to compensate present-day minorities for wrongs committed by previous generations. Every time someone in America whispers the word "reparations", Democrats lose five basis points. They are just not realistic at this point in our nation's history.
A more realistic plan would be to address concrete, finite projects that can spur evolutionary change. The best one I can think of is to reform district-based educational funding. That would at least start to tie the fate of black America to the rest of the country.
7
What is really stunning to me, a graduate of Oberlin College, is that somehow this history has escaped the students of Princeton until now. I find it really hard to believe that the campus is just waking up to who Woodrow Wilson was and why.
It seems to me that expunging his name from the campus would double down on what appears to be a failure of the institution to recognize its participation in systemic racism. Would it not be preferable to erect a monument next to the Wilson library with exhibits demonstrating what happened to real live people, exactly as Mr. Davis describes Let the library stand as a persistent reminder of what American institutions did and what its leadership tolerated. Place a list of the victims of this policy prominently on the entryway and populate the walls with pictures and documents so that students will never forget.
It seems to me that expunging his name from the campus would double down on what appears to be a failure of the institution to recognize its participation in systemic racism. Would it not be preferable to erect a monument next to the Wilson library with exhibits demonstrating what happened to real live people, exactly as Mr. Davis describes Let the library stand as a persistent reminder of what American institutions did and what its leadership tolerated. Place a list of the victims of this policy prominently on the entryway and populate the walls with pictures and documents so that students will never forget.
5
I would like to point out that there is no record of Woodrow Wilson, JFK, or Abraham Lincoln supporting the rights of transgendered persons or supporting the rights of same-sex couples to get married. What's worse, though, is that there is no record of any of the above men supporting companies to pay for women's birth control. Those MONSTERS! It is my belief that we should remove the Lincoln Memorial and remove Kennedy, Lincoln, and Woodrow Wilson's names and faces from the record books. When we judge them based on our modern day standards, they come up lacking severely. We should no longer support these backwards, racist, homophobic, transphobic white men.
*Also, JFK voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
*Also, JFK voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
7
Let's judge Wilson by the standards of his day: he was a vicious racist who reversed decades of progress, and his ignoble history must be reckoned with if we wish to achieve any measure of justice and peace in our society.
Your comment is as offensive as it is ignorant.
Your comment is as offensive as it is ignorant.
23
As a scholar and former Public Official concerned with government I never Knew. I did know he had a debilitating stroke and his wife "Ran" the government. Yes, our founding fathers hadIslaves and many did not free them on their death.Yet, they are praised It is very important that the truth has come out concerning Wilson. What should be done I do not know. Does his support for The League of Nation balance out the terrible and humiliating thing he did to black men in government jobs to and their lives and families. Probably not. I graduated Brown University and those who founded the school were slave traders. Yet, like Princeton it is a great University. However, Brown had acknowledged its history. Princeton must now do so, openly and honestly.
Nevertheless it is one stain on our truly great American history.
Nevertheless it is one stain on our truly great American history.
4
If we accept this action in regard to Wilson, where will it end? Will we erase names from the signing of the Declaration of Independence because they were slave owners? Wilson''s actions were abominable but that is behind us. We should look ahead and leave the racial hatred and bigotry behind. I do understand the effects of such feelings in others because I have been the victim of that and at a very young age. We will never change everyone's mind, but we must try to educate each generation to respect the differences in each of us.
3
Ah yes. "Look forward, not backward." Number three on the list of Common Responses of the Privileged!
20
A disgusting fact about Woodrow Wilson, no doubt, but if his name is stripped from buildings, roads, institutions, etc., where does it end?
Ulysses S. Grant was a great general, but he was also an alcoholic. Should his name be removed from monuments and history books?
FDR sent back the St. Louis, a ship carrying 900 Jews being persecuted by the Nazis, condemning a large number to death. And he interred Japanese-Americans -- American citizens -- to camps through WWII. Should his monument on the National Mall be razed?
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Are they going to be consigned to oblivion, too?
Calling out someone for the wrongs they did is one thing. Erasing history is another -- without history as a lesson, we're doomed to eventually repeat it.
Ulysses S. Grant was a great general, but he was also an alcoholic. Should his name be removed from monuments and history books?
FDR sent back the St. Louis, a ship carrying 900 Jews being persecuted by the Nazis, condemning a large number to death. And he interred Japanese-Americans -- American citizens -- to camps through WWII. Should his monument on the National Mall be razed?
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Are they going to be consigned to oblivion, too?
Calling out someone for the wrongs they did is one thing. Erasing history is another -- without history as a lesson, we're doomed to eventually repeat it.
2
We are not erasing history. We are just not honoring those who did not deserve it. Wilson was a racist. Let's just take his name off as an example, as there's no place on our mantle for individuals who through their racist views created laws designed to strip an entire group of people of their dignity and place in society.
16
My great grandfather was also a GPO employee and AFAIK was also affected similarly. If Wilson were to have met him, he wouldn't have know he was Black. Such is the ugly history of racism and old one drop rules. My family also lost land as a result of Wilson's actions.
No, we cannot erase history but we shouldn't laud those who destroyed the lives of many.
No, we cannot erase history but we shouldn't laud those who destroyed the lives of many.
25
I agree with the author that Wilson was an avowed racist and the actions he took as President as regards people of color working in the Federal Gov't was disgusting. Nevertheless, I don't think we can judge this man solely on those actions as nasty as they turned out to be. Wilson did other objectionable things in the area of Civil Liberties while he was President among them the infamous Palmer raids and his attempts to throw people into jail for disagreeing with his War policies. All of this should be taken into account in histories judging of this man, along all the important good things he did. If we use the standard the author wants us to use and the Black lives Matters folks then by definition we need to toss out just about all of our past Presidents. Our greatest one's included. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson all owned slaves and Jackson ethnically cleansed the Native Americans from the South during his term. Lincoln was an avowed racist as well, so I guess he goes. No, the standard has to be a balanced one. None of them were perfect. On that note, I don't believe Wilson should be booted from history and put to the side because of his overt racism. It's easy to view history as Monday Qtr. backs but it's not fair, nor is it wise.
3
As I live near the Avenue du président Wilson in Paris which leads onto the Avenue de New York and down to the Avenue du président Kennedy, perhaps the mobsters from my Alma mater should avoid the area lest they be offended.
3
Wilson's attitude is inexcusable, but unfortunately it was prevalent at the time. Just ask Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Walt Disney. Even more unfortunate: the attitude is still prevalent, but more Americans fight back today than they did nearly 100 years ago.
2
It isn't the attitude, while abhorrent enough on its own. It is Wilson's actions that set him apart.
18
Thank you. Honestly, the yelling of a relatively small number of extremely privileged Princeton students didn't really dent my "care meter." People are hungry, cold and afraid in this country; grown people with jobs are having trouble hanging on; a disturbing number of our politicians appear farcically lacking in even average qualities; and there's a worldwide economic crisis.
But this piece cuts through the bombast. Thank you for this thoughtful, mature and fact-based piece. I was an American history major in the 1980s at a different, equally excellent Ivy League school. And I never learned this. I find that appalling.
But this piece cuts through the bombast. Thank you for this thoughtful, mature and fact-based piece. I was an American history major in the 1980s at a different, equally excellent Ivy League school. And I never learned this. I find that appalling.
16
To remove or not to remove. It's a difficult issue. Because the farther we reach into the past, the more flawed our leaders usually become, especially when judged by modern social standards. But judge we must, because we recognize and honor them for what they got right.
To be fair, I think we should focus on what our leaders did in their official capacity, and less on their personal lives, because that's what really matters to history.
Thus, if Woodrow Wilson was a racist in his personal life, but had not acted on those beliefs in his public life, then Princeton should rightly honor his name and accomplishments. But if he was a racist and acted in furtherance of those beliefs, then it should not. No other post-Civil War President has ever enacted more racist measures than Woodrow Wilson; he's in a class by himself.
But what of his real accomplishments in public office? Isn't it right to honor him for those? Should the one issue of racism trump his other good acts? In Wilson's case, I think it should. That is not to say that he won't be given credit wherever credit is due, but he should be remembered first and foremost as a racist, and neither Princeton nor any other institution of integrity should want to be associated with his name.
To be fair, I think we should focus on what our leaders did in their official capacity, and less on their personal lives, because that's what really matters to history.
Thus, if Woodrow Wilson was a racist in his personal life, but had not acted on those beliefs in his public life, then Princeton should rightly honor his name and accomplishments. But if he was a racist and acted in furtherance of those beliefs, then it should not. No other post-Civil War President has ever enacted more racist measures than Woodrow Wilson; he's in a class by himself.
But what of his real accomplishments in public office? Isn't it right to honor him for those? Should the one issue of racism trump his other good acts? In Wilson's case, I think it should. That is not to say that he won't be given credit wherever credit is due, but he should be remembered first and foremost as a racist, and neither Princeton nor any other institution of integrity should want to be associated with his name.
8
I agree wholeheartedly that we ought to stare our history in the face and acknowledge the immoral beliefs and actions of our predecessors -- many of whom founded or led this nation through difficult times. But to what extent do we decide that those predecessors -- very much products of the eras in which they lived -- ought not be celebrated in any way?
Does George Washington become persona non grata because he had hundreds of slaves? Do we tear down the Lincoln memorial because he harbored racist perspectives? Do we forever shun Earl Warren, today extolled as a champion of desegregation, because he at one point supported the internment of Japanese Americans during the second world war?
The ideas undergirding slavery, segregation, and racism are repulsive to most in modern America, and rightly so. But I think our society is sophisticated enough to be able to celebrate the heroes of yesteryear, while unequivocally rejecting some of the things that they stood for.
Does George Washington become persona non grata because he had hundreds of slaves? Do we tear down the Lincoln memorial because he harbored racist perspectives? Do we forever shun Earl Warren, today extolled as a champion of desegregation, because he at one point supported the internment of Japanese Americans during the second world war?
The ideas undergirding slavery, segregation, and racism are repulsive to most in modern America, and rightly so. But I think our society is sophisticated enough to be able to celebrate the heroes of yesteryear, while unequivocally rejecting some of the things that they stood for.
3
Why stop with racism? If we are going to be about the business of looking at our past leaders through unvarnished lenses, and applying a strict scrutiny to their behavior, is not sexism also fair game?
If so, should not Harvard consider renaming its John F Kennedy School of Government, given his well documented frat boy sexism both outside the workplace within the WhiteHouse workplace? Isnt the USS John F Kennedy a ship in need of immediate rechistening - we have made significant strides in equality in the Navy. Why should women have to serve on a ship named for a man much more likely to corner them after a staff meeting with lecherous intent, or pinch their bottom in passing, then ask their opinion on the strategic deployment of force.
And by those lights, should any government or educational institution, anywhere, be named after William J. Clinton? The admitted behavior of the man - targeting an intern for sexual favors - would get any corporate CEO fired with extreme prejudice these days. Should the zero tolerance for racism yardstick be applied to this predatory workplace sexual behavior?
Or shall we just keep it to racism - in which case, I assume that, given the gentlemens embrace of racial separation, black supremacy, and rejection of the civil rights movement, for virtually his entire career, that every Malcom X school and street in the nation is up for immediate rechristening.
If so, should not Harvard consider renaming its John F Kennedy School of Government, given his well documented frat boy sexism both outside the workplace within the WhiteHouse workplace? Isnt the USS John F Kennedy a ship in need of immediate rechistening - we have made significant strides in equality in the Navy. Why should women have to serve on a ship named for a man much more likely to corner them after a staff meeting with lecherous intent, or pinch their bottom in passing, then ask their opinion on the strategic deployment of force.
And by those lights, should any government or educational institution, anywhere, be named after William J. Clinton? The admitted behavior of the man - targeting an intern for sexual favors - would get any corporate CEO fired with extreme prejudice these days. Should the zero tolerance for racism yardstick be applied to this predatory workplace sexual behavior?
Or shall we just keep it to racism - in which case, I assume that, given the gentlemens embrace of racial separation, black supremacy, and rejection of the civil rights movement, for virtually his entire career, that every Malcom X school and street in the nation is up for immediate rechristening.
7
I have no problem with the national removal of symbols, statues, and names of slaveholders, racists, sexists, and homophobes. They may have said or contributed something positive, but the intended recipient of those so-called good deeds were heterosexual white men. Today, Wilson would just be another Trump (but with twice the intellect) at the very front rioting against the inclusion of African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, women, and LGBT students at America's best universities.
7
It may be time for a broader reassessment of Wilson's legacy. It might be argued that Wilson's taking the United States into World War I, and his bull-in-a-china shop approach to the postwar peace were among the major factors leading to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and World War II http://www.cato.org/policy-report/mayjune-2014/woodrow-wilsons-great-mis... http://antiwar.com/horton/?articleid=5711 http://www.historyonthenet.com/ww2/causes.htm
9
Whatever the outcome of the protest over Wilson and other Racist heroes and Symbols (confederate flag) what most people do not yet grasp is that all the racist that used to be in the Southern Democratic party now belong to the Republican party. All minorities, working poor, blue collar workers and many of the middle class should be voting Democratic every election. It is their only chance to have their political voices heard.
It is sad that the Republican party that elected Lincoln, abolished slavery, and kept the Union of States together is now controlled by people who essentially want to rewrite our constitution, establish a state religion, suppress the right to vote, and curtail our freedom of speech unless it fits their propaganda machine (Fox News, Talk Radio etc.)
No more Republicans.
Vote Democratic!
It is sad that the Republican party that elected Lincoln, abolished slavery, and kept the Union of States together is now controlled by people who essentially want to rewrite our constitution, establish a state religion, suppress the right to vote, and curtail our freedom of speech unless it fits their propaganda machine (Fox News, Talk Radio etc.)
No more Republicans.
Vote Democratic!
2
Thank you, Mr. Davis, for putting compelling personal detail on the impact of historical action. Race mattered in destructive ways to your grandfather and still does today. The apologists are working overtime for Wilson, but the fact was that Wilson undermined longstanding black opportunities in the federal service, and he had little to gain politically by doing that. It was gratuitous abuse, and it should weigh against his historical reputation and against Princeton's celebration of him.
12
“The reputation which I have been able to acquire and maintain at considerable sacrifice,” he wrote, “is to me (foolish as it may appear to those in higher stations of life) a source of personal pride, a possession of which I am very jealous and which is possessed at a value in my estimation ranking above the loss of salary — though the last, to a man having a family of small children to rear, is serious enough.”
Aside from all his other talents, Mr. Davis was a surpassingly good writer, even though his diction is of course, flavored with the style of his historical era. The breadth, precision, and rhythm of his style is surely reminiscent of some of the writing of the great American writers of his time, though Melville comes to mind first.
And this was in a personal letter, not something he wrote for publication. How many people today, who write only by texting and email, can write as well as this?
Aside from all his other talents, Mr. Davis was a surpassingly good writer, even though his diction is of course, flavored with the style of his historical era. The breadth, precision, and rhythm of his style is surely reminiscent of some of the writing of the great American writers of his time, though Melville comes to mind first.
And this was in a personal letter, not something he wrote for publication. How many people today, who write only by texting and email, can write as well as this?
4
Wilson also had a horrible record on civil liberties -- First Amendment freedoms. This may sound weird, but Warren Harding was much more liberal in this respect.
12
Re Mr. Nicholson's admonition "to forgive" Wilson, as "a man of his time." You just don't get it, do you? Many white people of that time were not racist. Wilson had a great responsibility as President, which he did not assume. No wonder so many African-Americans today are still appalled and perplexed! (also "white" people, of which I am one."
18
Mr Davis, you write so well of your grandfather. I hope that you continue to write more about him, his family, and the times in which he lived. I love the detail that he was all about Theodore Roosevelt.
We all need to hear these stories to learn about America. We're a complicated country with a complicated history.
We all need to hear these stories to learn about America. We're a complicated country with a complicated history.
13
Our sins outlive us and, as the Good Book says, will eventually be revealed. Woodrow Wilson may well have been a man of his times but with his intellect and privileged education he simply took the easy way out politically rather than work through the ethics involved. Eisenhower was a great general but on April 27,1953 he issued Executive Order 10450 designed to purge the government civil service of gays and others with "undesirable" opinions or lifestyles. Bill Clinton will always be remembered for having signed the Don't Ask Don't Tell and Defense of Marriage Acts.
Given these examples you would think politicians, especially the current GOP candidates, would be more introspective and ethically attuned.
Given these examples you would think politicians, especially the current GOP candidates, would be more introspective and ethically attuned.
3
That was a gut-wrenching story: sad, frightening, and infuriating all at once.
9
In order to form a more perfect union, Gordon Davis's family story should be read at every high school, church and political rally in the U.S.A. America is great and it can withstand the profound ignorance, taught daily in our schools, which keeps us unaware of the grotesque threads within our history and carried on by virtually every intentionally ignorant American leader. Indeed, Woodrow Wilson was a great President - with some grotesque, wholly American, ideas - which should be known by every Princeton student. Thank you, Gordon Davis for sharing your great family story.
5
Thank you, Mr Davis, for this story.
8
We tend to see history in terms of good and evil when in reality history is always mixed. Those who have dominated the moment and retire at the height of their powers are seen as flawless regardless of their faults no matter how glaring and obvious. The Jefferson Memorial in Washington sits near Lincoln’s memorial, yet they could not be more different. Jefferson authored the document that has changed the flow of history yet as a slave owner his life bore witness to a reality that could not be more opposite in values to the ideals he espoused in the Declaration of Independence.
When we ignore the complexity of history and white wash the sins of those whose actions have for the most part been good we become inclined to make foolish choices. The purge of the Ba’athists in Iraq after the fall of Saddam is an example of this blindness to the realities of the world in which we live. We can celebrate Wilson’s progressive agenda and the changes his administration produced and at the same time condemn his racism. In a pragmatic moral world Wilson’s acts, or those of any other celebrated leader, do not cancel each other, instead they define who these historical icons really are – a mixture of both good and evil. Wilson was a racist, but that alone cannot define him or his role in history.
When we ignore the complexity of history and white wash the sins of those whose actions have for the most part been good we become inclined to make foolish choices. The purge of the Ba’athists in Iraq after the fall of Saddam is an example of this blindness to the realities of the world in which we live. We can celebrate Wilson’s progressive agenda and the changes his administration produced and at the same time condemn his racism. In a pragmatic moral world Wilson’s acts, or those of any other celebrated leader, do not cancel each other, instead they define who these historical icons really are – a mixture of both good and evil. Wilson was a racist, but that alone cannot define him or his role in history.
2
I despise Woodrow Wilson for many reasons, not the least of which was his racism. Did someone else lust now figure that out? Have the discussion about where his name should be but maybe you should keep it visible to remind people (besides historians, who always knew) what a miserable human being he was.
9
The quote “History is written by the victors” attributed to Walter Benjamin should always be remembered when studying history. The judgment of our heroes is often clouded by jingoism especially during times of national crises and war. Revision of history is a necessary task undertaken by good historians. The Princeton student have a legitimate and not unreasonable request.
12
Abraham Lincoln also had some ideas that would have been unacceptable today. Where do we acknowledge context of the times?
1
The progressive era saw an expansion of government power into professional licensing, and, arguably, unintended consequences from what current 'progressives' might desire. For example practically all medical schools which educated black and female doctors lost their licenses and were closed. This followed the Flexner report of 1910.
1
Woodrow Wilson's racial policies are disgusting, no doubt but where does this logic take us. George Washington owned slaves which is even more vile. Should we rename our capital city?
Mount McKinley was renamed recently.
I do not see why DC should be exempt?
I do not see why DC should be exempt?
3
Wilson, to be sure, didn't like a lot of people. People of color took the brunt mistreatment because they wear the mark. The damage from Wilson's regressive activities lingers on and affects everyone in our society negatively. I'd say it was high time to take the old devil down a peg.
10
A well written touching and sad essay.
9
Wilson was a typical democrat so some things never change...now go vote for Hilary or Bernie you ignorant liberals.
Wilson was a terrible president and his ideas on race are about the same as most of the democrats for the past 100 years....so people are just to stupid to see it. Margaret Sanger was his buddy also and you know what she is responsible for but I am sure she will still be honored at the liberal cesspool known as University.
Wilson was a terrible president and his ideas on race are about the same as most of the democrats for the past 100 years....so people are just to stupid to see it. Margaret Sanger was his buddy also and you know what she is responsible for but I am sure she will still be honored at the liberal cesspool known as University.
2
For anybody who has ever studied history this is old news. Rather than erasing these past issues why don't we take the time to make people more aware of them so we can move on and not make a similar mistake again? At Monticello they started a wonderful program where they tell the story of the people who actually worked at the house rather than just the family who lived there. This is the opportunity to tell that story at Princeton as well. If you remove Wilson you might as well remove every President who ever owned a slave from all our Universities. After all these men profited on the buying/selling of human beings... and where will that get us? Nowhere, except more bickering over who was 'bad' and who was a mere 'product of their time.' It makes more sense to confront history head on, reveal the real story, and use it as a teaching experience. Yes, Wilson was *shockingly* a racist, but to say he is not a product of his time is horribly incorrect considering he grew up in the south right after the Civil War ended. He even spoke about how one of his first memories was hearing that Lincoln was elected and there was going to be a war which I am sure was not a pleasant moment. I am not defending him, what he did was horrible, and this writer has every right to let his families story be heard, but removing Wilson's name will not change the story. It will only tuck it further away.
I'm very sorry that Woodrow Wilson cost your grandfather his job and his farm and his dignity. But over the centuries, many injustices have been done to our ancestors and dwelling on them does little good. Should the Holocaust be forgotten? Absolutely not! What is the difference? It was the attempt to remove an entire ethnic group from the face of the earth and that is a level of evil that must never be forgotten.
But what is accomplished by nursing old injustices? Very little - in fact, often much harm is done. As a Christian, I'm taught to turn the other cheek and the power of forgiveness, both my forgiveness by the Lord, and my forgiveness of others who have have grievously harmed me.
This does not mean we forget what happened, it means we learn from it and move FORWARD. Woodrow Wilson accomplished a great deal for this country in his lifetime. We can respect that and still deplore what was a dominant belief system during his time on earth. No human on earth is perfect, and certainly, MANY of our former presidents were far from being so. But we start down a very slippery slope when we start expunging past leaders due to their failings, when we still know they also did great good.
Somehow, I can see the dynamite on being set up on Mt Rushmore right now, to remove the heads of those we now deem unworthy.
But what is accomplished by nursing old injustices? Very little - in fact, often much harm is done. As a Christian, I'm taught to turn the other cheek and the power of forgiveness, both my forgiveness by the Lord, and my forgiveness of others who have have grievously harmed me.
This does not mean we forget what happened, it means we learn from it and move FORWARD. Woodrow Wilson accomplished a great deal for this country in his lifetime. We can respect that and still deplore what was a dominant belief system during his time on earth. No human on earth is perfect, and certainly, MANY of our former presidents were far from being so. But we start down a very slippery slope when we start expunging past leaders due to their failings, when we still know they also did great good.
Somehow, I can see the dynamite on being set up on Mt Rushmore right now, to remove the heads of those we now deem unworthy.
1
Woodrow Wilson put Eugene V. Debs at age 64 in prison for 10 years for speaking out against World War I. He brutally curtailed the civil rights of Blacks and Whites.
22
Folks are losing sight of Princeton University's status as a private university governed by a Board of Directors and not by the court of public opinion, or the state of New Jersey, or the federal government. Our opinions really do not "count." Princeton needs to decide for itself which parts of its legacy it wants to honor.
5
This story absolutely breaks my heart.
10
I read "The Accursed" by Joyce Carol Oates but I viewed the racism in there as a kind of satire. Now I find her portrayals of Wilson's racism and the racism in Princeton were dead serious. I am shocked. We have to undo this terrible legacy if we are to fulfill our national dream of equal opportunity for all. I want that dream for everyone, not just for people who are pale and Northern European like myself.
8
History should be wriiten with both the good and the bad exposed, because history is abount human beings, and human beings do both good and bad. Where good is done let it be known, when bad is done let it be known. Some examples from history:
Many people don't know that Benjamin Franklin was a slave owner in his younger days, he did not switch to being a abolitionist until later in his life. Lincoln favored the return of Blacks back to Africa. I see Theodore Roosevelt being mentioned here for desegrating employment in the Federal Government, which is true, but Roosevelt also had his own instances of racist behavior too in his life. FDR's State Department was a bastion of anti-semitism, and that cost many Jewish lives. FDR rounded up Japanese citizens and sent them to internment camps. History is full of such things but too often it is left out of the narrative.
Many people don't know that Benjamin Franklin was a slave owner in his younger days, he did not switch to being a abolitionist until later in his life. Lincoln favored the return of Blacks back to Africa. I see Theodore Roosevelt being mentioned here for desegrating employment in the Federal Government, which is true, but Roosevelt also had his own instances of racist behavior too in his life. FDR's State Department was a bastion of anti-semitism, and that cost many Jewish lives. FDR rounded up Japanese citizens and sent them to internment camps. History is full of such things but too often it is left out of the narrative.
2
Like others have voiced, I'm torn by this. A few months ago there was that story of South African students tearing down the statue of Cecil Rhodes on their university campus, something I completely understood given his nefarious role in that nation's history. For some reason, (nationalism/patriotism??) I don't have the same reaction with this debate about Wilson, even though his racism is nothing new in the academic literature/historiography. Part of me asks, do we rename Washington D.C. since our first president had slaves, and only liberated them upon his death? I suppose it brings up the question, where exactly does this lead, how far should it go?
1
George Washington 'owned' slaves 130 years before Wilson was even born. A lot of things happened in the time between. Get it? Wilson purposefully, maliciously, turned our country backwards instead of keeping it going forwards, and ruined human lives in the process.
10
George Washington, though venerated as our first president, as a slave owner also supported bondage on American soil. His conduct, when viewed through the moral lens of the present or not, is reprehensible.
Have students at GW in our nation's capitol clamored for that university to change its name? Should they?
Have students at GW in our nation's capitol clamored for that university to change its name? Should they?
1
Wow! It's always eye-opening to read of the concrete effect racism has had on individual human beings. I have read that Wilson was a racist and that he saw and complimented the movie "Birth of a Nation," which lionized the murderous and cowardly KKK, but, somehow, this hits home even more. It appears that Wilson was interested in making the world safe for something other than democracy.
10
I'm gobsmacked by this story. Not because it comes as a revelation vis a vis systemic racism (though it is revelatory re Wilson), but because the humiliation is so palpable it lands an arrow in the heart.
Yes Princeton, ditch the name.
Yes Princeton, ditch the name.
23
No President can be evaluated by the one-dimensional approach taken here. President's "preside over the times in which they live." Wilson was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his sponsorship of the League of Nations, reintroduced the spoken "State of the Union Address", was a progressive President who oversaw the passage of New Deal legislation and policies which must have affected millions, including your Grandfather. Women and labor did well under Wilson with the Adamson Act, the Nineteenth Amendment and keeping us out of World War I until 1917 with his policy of Neutrality. Maintaining America's military throughout World War I secured precious peace and alliances that America retains today, including his 14 Points and Treaty of Versailles. Wilson believed in morality in his dealings internationally and promoted the principles of democracy. I am finding it hard to believe that all of these achievements and contributions result in his name being taken off a university building citing racism, when we clearly see that "integration" as a policy was a failure and people have since self-segregated to be with our own, successful build communities and alliances, as well as educate and care for our families. Subsequent generations have done better than they think under American Presidents who are being judged long after their initial impact.
1
The point is that however laudible his efforts for women, the country in WWI and the development of the League of Nations, Wilson vindictively pursued policies to injure Black American citizens of the United States. Not as an afterthought but as a direct policy. Ugly and shameful.
14
This has to be a tough issue for liberals. One of their icons was a racist. So do you celebrate him for his liberal accomplishments or condemn him for his racism? You can do both verbally and in writing, but not when you name a building or school after him.
Maybe Princeton could acknowledge both sides by erecting a statue of him with the inscription "Woodrow Wilson, Racist."
Maybe Princeton could acknowledge both sides by erecting a statue of him with the inscription "Woodrow Wilson, Racist."
1
This is a good example of trying to put history through the sieve of everything being the binaries of liberal or conservative, black or white, good or bad.
It is history - put it all out there and learn something is the take-away.
It is history - put it all out there and learn something is the take-away.
2
Wilson's international efforts and accomplishments stand without question, and now his domestic attitudes are receiving wider, and critical, examination. Perhaps the solution is to change the name of Princeton's Wilson College while retaining the name of its Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (along with some clarifying exhibit or information about Wilson's racial attitudes). No one is perfect, and when someone has done both great good and great harm, both should be recognized appropriately.
1
This shameful history of Wilson needs to be told again and again. However, if we begin revising our institutional designations as we relearn our history, things could get very confusing. Shall we re-name Washington D.C. "Potomac" to avoid referencing a slaver and to honor the native americans who pre-dated Europeans?
1
Don't forget to rename DC too: Columbia comes from Columbus, who slaughtered Native Americans....
1
The point of this article is that not only that Woodrow Wilson was a racist but because of his position of power he was able to use his racism to stymie the economic progress of thousands or hundreds of thousands of blacks and elevate and improve the progress of the same amount of whites. The economic losses or gains depending on the race were multiplied with each succeeding generation.
And I do understand that other ethnic groups have undergone discrimination. But I dare to say not one ethnic group has undergone the severity and chronicity of legalized racism and discrimination that afflicted and has continued to afflict African-Americans . We're talking about laws in Virginia around the end of the 1700s to early 1800s fobidding anybody to teach slaves to read, to legalized separate but (un) equal schooling throughout the early 1900s to the 1950s, to not being allowed to join labor unions in the north, to legalized housing discrimination practiced by the United States Govt. through the FHA after World War II and well into the 1970s. Even recently within the last three or four years Wells Fargo was indicted and lost a case involving purposefully giving African-Americans higher interest loans regardless of credit worthiness. Obviously if you have a higher interest loan you build equity in your house at a much lower and slower rate compared with somebody was given a lower interest loan. Namely whites in the case of Wells Fargo.
And I do understand that other ethnic groups have undergone discrimination. But I dare to say not one ethnic group has undergone the severity and chronicity of legalized racism and discrimination that afflicted and has continued to afflict African-Americans . We're talking about laws in Virginia around the end of the 1700s to early 1800s fobidding anybody to teach slaves to read, to legalized separate but (un) equal schooling throughout the early 1900s to the 1950s, to not being allowed to join labor unions in the north, to legalized housing discrimination practiced by the United States Govt. through the FHA after World War II and well into the 1970s. Even recently within the last three or four years Wells Fargo was indicted and lost a case involving purposefully giving African-Americans higher interest loans regardless of credit worthiness. Obviously if you have a higher interest loan you build equity in your house at a much lower and slower rate compared with somebody was given a lower interest loan. Namely whites in the case of Wells Fargo.
16
Thank you...I feel as though you were reading my mind!
I also believe your comment (along with the other like minded ones) helps people understand we endure so much injustice as citizens of this country. As you said, other groups have endured discrimination. This country has accepted them and helped elevate them so they only look back and say that's ancient history. Black Americans have been here longer than all of the other ethnic groups that came to this country yet we have not been accepted. This is why we continue to work hard just to stay afloat. It's a group effort from all fronts...this is just one of those fights. There will be many others before we are truly permitted to succeed as a whole.
There is no reason why any country should honor those who made oppression their mission. I could be wrong but I highly doubt there are schools or streets currently named after Hitler, Stalin, Mariam, etc. I also doubt anyone would think it's best to refuse to rename any institution that bears their names, keeping their statues or flags displayed all in the name of remembering history.
I also believe your comment (along with the other like minded ones) helps people understand we endure so much injustice as citizens of this country. As you said, other groups have endured discrimination. This country has accepted them and helped elevate them so they only look back and say that's ancient history. Black Americans have been here longer than all of the other ethnic groups that came to this country yet we have not been accepted. This is why we continue to work hard just to stay afloat. It's a group effort from all fronts...this is just one of those fights. There will be many others before we are truly permitted to succeed as a whole.
There is no reason why any country should honor those who made oppression their mission. I could be wrong but I highly doubt there are schools or streets currently named after Hitler, Stalin, Mariam, etc. I also doubt anyone would think it's best to refuse to rename any institution that bears their names, keeping their statues or flags displayed all in the name of remembering history.
5
I don't understand how Wilson managed to get remembered as an internationalist - he was a racist on the international stage too, to allies and enemies alike. Germany and Hungary, the losers of WW1, were both broken up against the will of the self-determination. And while the blame for those could be placed mostly at the hands of Britain and France, Wilson also betrayed promises of independence to Arab allies, signing off on the plan to make them colonies of the major powers.
It became clear very early on that Wilson's "self-determination" applied only to his allies, and to Caucasians at that. He may have dressed it up in idealistic language, but Wilson was no different from the imperialists he consistently sided with in international issues. Both at home and abroad, it was not until Truman that America would begin to see the seeds of change on racial issues.
It became clear very early on that Wilson's "self-determination" applied only to his allies, and to Caucasians at that. He may have dressed it up in idealistic language, but Wilson was no different from the imperialists he consistently sided with in international issues. Both at home and abroad, it was not until Truman that America would begin to see the seeds of change on racial issues.
7
The current 518 posts prohibit even a cursory scan-through to see if mention has been made of a book I have recommended on several occasions in Comments. Thomas of L.A. has at this moment the latest comment and he mentions Howard Zinn as writer to look to for a more objective view of US history than the 99+% of us received in American schools. Another fine and traditional history education damning author is James W. Loewen, whose "Lies My Teacher Told Me" deserves to be required reading for every American citizen. Mr. Loewen spares Woodrow Wilson no quarter for his racial bigotry. Acknowledging Wilson's distinguished achievement, Loewen makes plain that the racist Wilson is simultaneously guilty of causing immeasurable harm to the Black man and, by his silent complicity, the White man alike, and that by ignoring this darker part of his legacy in our schools serves only to perpetuate that grievance, even to this day.
15
I agree with this. I was in high school when I found out that Wilson segregated Washington in 1914. Until that time, I thought that the segregation in DC was left over from before the Civil War. He dropped off my list of best presidents at that moment. Because of him, Grandma Earle spent her time in DC riding on the back of the trolley. I don't know if I would take his name off (you can't erase people from history) but everything he did, the good and the bad, needs to be there.
9
Maybe the bad karma of Wilson's racism carried over into other areas of his life, costing him his health, the international peacemaker title he tried so hard to achieve and, of course, the harsh review of history that we see at Princeton today. This should serve as a warning to politicians today who seem all too anxious to put themselves on the wrong side of history.
7
I don't now why people keep comparing Wilson and MLK. MLK's flaws were personal flaws. Wilson induced a large scale, systematic racial bias.
If a person has personal failings, John Lennon for example, was a serial abuser of women, and in certain moral scales, maybe his music bought enough good to offset that personal evil.
HOWEVER
If a person institutes policies of bias and hierarchy based off race or gender in a system then in my view, they are evil in any valid moral scale.
If a person has personal failings, John Lennon for example, was a serial abuser of women, and in certain moral scales, maybe his music bought enough good to offset that personal evil.
HOWEVER
If a person institutes policies of bias and hierarchy based off race or gender in a system then in my view, they are evil in any valid moral scale.
15
Racist is a very strong word which is applied too often to individuals who have different views of the application of the laws of the land. This must be born in mind in discussing American history before 1954, the year of the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation unconstitutional.
Most of my career goals and opportunities were vetoed, blocked, undone or otherwise hampered by groups of people working in the areas of academics, journalism, politics and the arts, but these individuals were not racist. Indeed they were making decisions and judgments from a philosophical viewpoint which was supposedly liberal but actually illiberal.
When a black person moves to another seat on a bus to avoid sitting beside a white person, is this racist behavior? I hardly think so, even when I am the subject of the social slight. We keep encountering new waves of illiberal conduct by individuals and groups alike, but often this is due to changing social positions and perceptions, needing only time for reconsideration, reflection and reconciliation "at all deliberate speed."
Most of my career goals and opportunities were vetoed, blocked, undone or otherwise hampered by groups of people working in the areas of academics, journalism, politics and the arts, but these individuals were not racist. Indeed they were making decisions and judgments from a philosophical viewpoint which was supposedly liberal but actually illiberal.
When a black person moves to another seat on a bus to avoid sitting beside a white person, is this racist behavior? I hardly think so, even when I am the subject of the social slight. We keep encountering new waves of illiberal conduct by individuals and groups alike, but often this is due to changing social positions and perceptions, needing only time for reconsideration, reflection and reconciliation "at all deliberate speed."
1
I also appreciate this learning. I did not know the degree of Wilson's despicable racism. I view it as above and beyond the call of duty of a "man of his times." I also believe that Wilson was a "great" man, at least in the sense that he played a major role in his times, and at least some of the actions and results can be seen as positive by many. I have been disturbed considering his pronouncements at the end of WWI, to the effect that the United States would support the freedom and determination of other peoples in their own lands. Many have believed, and some continue to believe, this lie and hypocrisy to their great detriment.
1
How cowardly it is to attack one unable to defend himself, especially when that person lived in a very different world than ours. Princeton University is diminished by their attacks on President Woodrow Wilson. They should be ashamed for the hypocrisy they demonstrate. All are sinners, no one is righteous said The Lord, 'not one'. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone !"
2
What, exactly, do you think Wilson would say to defend himself? I fear, if he were alive, his justifications would sound abhorent and only condemn him further. And as for it being a 'different time', I have little patience for that argument under these circumstances. The "different times" argument is only plausible when we are angry that someone just went along with the status quo, rather than having the courage and intelligence to push for positive change. But here, as the article explains, Wilson wasn't just going along to get along. Wilson reversed prior practices, imposed segregation where it did not exist, and turned BACK the clock. Those are the actions of a man with a vision--a vision profoundly contrary to what this country stands for.
17
Oh, can it, Davis, with the verbal race supremacy wars, which asserts that race as a concept is more important than the achievements of individual men and nations. And you are willing to take down an entire academic institution, its reputation, and possibly even a nation, in order to prove some point about an individual man -- even though their incomplete world views were shared by their peers at the time. They weren't demons. They were products of a particular time period, setting, and upbringing. Where does it end? Never, for you: Let's eradicate all of European history because those bad white men believed bad things. Time to grow up and MOVE ON.
3
Powerful and wealthy people in this country do terrible, awful things that end up harming average Americans, of all colors. It has always been that way. My (white) great grandparents and grandparents lost everything during the Great Depression. They went, like the authors grandfather, from a comfortable middle class living (they owned and ran several small Inn's) to being pauperized, overnight, just like millions of other innocent Americans in the 1930's. Their only sin was being middle class, not wealthy. The authors grandfather - his only sin was being non-white. In both cases, their lives were destroyed by powerful and wealthy men making selfish/greedy and politically motivated decisions, for their own gain (and the benefit of other white, wealthy, powerful men like themselves). I am glad Gordon Davis still remembers who stabbed his grandfather in the back, even though 100 years has elapsed. I remember who stabbed my great grandparents as well. Though I never knew them, I heard the stories passed down by my grandparents and parents. I wish all lower and middle class Americans, regardless of color, remembered those lessons.
2
This is an excellent, informative article. I am glad you shared it.
It is certainly enough evidence to open the public debate, often pondered by professional historiographers (philosophers of history), about how we should evaluate our leaders (past and present). Should the school should be renamed, and what should be done about Wilson's legacy?
Interesting questions about our society are generally discussed by looking retrospectively to understand how we got where we are today and how we can change to be better in the future.
It is certainly enough evidence to open the public debate, often pondered by professional historiographers (philosophers of history), about how we should evaluate our leaders (past and present). Should the school should be renamed, and what should be done about Wilson's legacy?
Interesting questions about our society are generally discussed by looking retrospectively to understand how we got where we are today and how we can change to be better in the future.
3
The story of John Abraham Davis is indeed as painful to confront as it is necessary. This continues to challenge a nation not merely conceived in the original sin of slavery, but conceived in part to protect slavery which was coming under threat as the "old world" began turning away from it. Racism is part of the American DNA. Expunging hahoial DNA is a steep challenge.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
www.endthemadnessnow.org
1
I offer no judgments about Wilson. I'm not well-enough informed.
But it's notable to me that the perspective that Wilson was a racist appears to be a recent tack by historians and that it might be useful to let the dust settle on his legacy before hashing out the matter once and for all. Give other voices an opportunity to weigh in. Once we start applying 21st-century impressions to early 20th-century states of mind, I suspect we'll find it hard to know where to stop.
But it's notable to me that the perspective that Wilson was a racist appears to be a recent tack by historians and that it might be useful to let the dust settle on his legacy before hashing out the matter once and for all. Give other voices an opportunity to weigh in. Once we start applying 21st-century impressions to early 20th-century states of mind, I suspect we'll find it hard to know where to stop.
3
This may be "recent" for you, but I've heard such awful stories about Wilson for nearly all of my 68 years. Read your history. This isn't some new discovery.
9
Woodrow Wilson also screened DW Griffith's KKK celebration, "The Birth of a Nation" in the White House and deemed it worthy. However, if we decided to strip all of our institutions of their connections to the flawed leaders of the past, what will we have left to stand upon and build? FDR avoided supporting black men and women pursuing equality. Do we deny Social Security, the conquest of the Nazi's and the Japanese Militarists, the 40 hour work week, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the many other things he bequeathed us? How about Thom Jefferson? He was a racist, slave-owner, and arguably a rapist. Does that disqualify his contributions to the American Revolution and his achievements as President? Do we tear down the Jefferson Memorial because of what we today see (clearly) as is flaws?
Yes, let's confront President Wilson's flaws, but also acknowledge the important role he has played in history.
Yes, let's confront President Wilson's flaws, but also acknowledge the important role he has played in history.
3
Woodrow Wilson also premiered the movie "Birth of a Nation" in the White House and emboldened the KKK by his approving remarks of accuracy and truthfulness.
However, going Soviet and removing his name from buildings doesn't do much.
However, going Soviet and removing his name from buildings doesn't do much.
2
This makes me wonder if we should stop commemorating buildings with the names of people and, instead, with ideas...
3
so true, wilson did so much damage to our nation both racially and economically . he reversed TRs progressive economics and racial changes, while harding and coolidge also reversed his .
5
Thank you for sharing this important part of American history. What happened to your grandfather and countless other African Americans after slavery is why we need these conversations. Some people may find this information uncomfortable but so what? Your comfort is unimportant when entire communities have been pillaged, plundered and constantly victimized by policies initiated by "noble" White men.
9
Although I can certainly see this person's point of view, eliminating Wilson's name does not eliminate the history connected to him; rather it serves as a constant reminder of why segregation was outlawed. Should we remove Jefferson's affiliation with the University of Virginia because he owned slaves and kept one of them as his mistress? Dr. Martin Luther King was a known womanizer, but as a woman, I would not want to see his legacy removed from American history. It's our history - ALL Americans, warts and all. We are all better served as a nation to learn from it and vow not to repeat it - and move forward together.
5
There is a difference between remembering history - which we must do - and honoring people from the past. We do need honorific monuments or named dorm buildings or schools to remember people from the past.
2
Are you seriously equating a man who cheats on his wife with a man who promotes and praises lynching innocent American citizens? Really? Really?
9
Wilson's record as an arrogant, dedicated racist is more than enough reason to remove his name from Princeton's buildings. However, there is yet more to his so-called legacy to call into question. Mr. Davis says Wilson is remembered as an internationalist statesman and so he is, though as a history teacher I have always been mystified as to why. I have been even more mystified as to why Princeton named its school of international affairs after a president whose policies were catastrophic and distinguished by a profound ignorance of European history. Wilson's refusal to negotiate a separate peace with Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary prolonged the war in that theater by a year, costing who knows how many lives and put the seal on the doom of an empire that had been Europe's Eastern bulwark for 800 years. His insistence on universal self determination fed the countless petty nationalisms of the time and helped ensure the creation of small states that were unable to resist first the Nazis, then the Soviets. Wilson allowed himself to be bulldozed by Clemenceau and Lloyd-George regarding the devastating reparations and continued post-war blockade of Germany- more death and disorder. In short. Wilson was a foreign policy train wreck.
14
It's certainly easy to accept revisions to history at the expense of acknowledging the context.
The demands to remove Woodrow Wilson's legacy from Princeton is ample evidence of the old adage that revolutionaries devour their own. Wilson was once a hero of the Progressive Left (he certainly was a hero to FDR) but is no longer well-regarded. One can only wonder who will be next.
I have great sympathy for those on the Left: it must be a horrible feeling knowing that whatever one does in life will be "deconstructed" by one's political descendants; and that instead of being a hero, one has the strong possibility of becoming a villain.
How pathetic.
I have great sympathy for those on the Left: it must be a horrible feeling knowing that whatever one does in life will be "deconstructed" by one's political descendants; and that instead of being a hero, one has the strong possibility of becoming a villain.
How pathetic.
3
Oh Please. Introducing segregation into the government was a choice. That is what is interesting about this story. It flies in the face of a cultural myth- i.e. black upward mobility.
Strom Thurmond's out of wedlock black daughter would have been an interesting twist to his career of segregation wouldn't it, had it not been kept some sort of secret to "preserve" his "history".
All political stripes turn on people. Look at how the GOP treats George Bush. Look at how HWBush thinks of Cheney. Reagan would be considered "leftist" by the crowd at Fox. It sure isnt written in stone.
Strom Thurmond's out of wedlock black daughter would have been an interesting twist to his career of segregation wouldn't it, had it not been kept some sort of secret to "preserve" his "history".
All political stripes turn on people. Look at how the GOP treats George Bush. Look at how HWBush thinks of Cheney. Reagan would be considered "leftist" by the crowd at Fox. It sure isnt written in stone.
7
Almost as pathetic as the strident political right tripping over itself to berate the policies of Nixon, Reagan and Bush41. To say nothing of their willful amnesia regarding the wreckage left behindd by Bush43. Pathetic indeed!
4
Just like it is appropriate that the confederate flag be expunged from public places because of its racist implications (the so called "its our heritage" argument is so bogus because the "heritage" is the disgrace and cruelty of slavery), so should Woodrow Wilson being glorified at Princeton be ended. Thank you Princeton students for your courageous protest.
17
I also would like to call out all other historical figures who in retrospect were not saintlier than Jesus and Moses and Mohammed and condemn them all entirely and without reservation.
4
We can't change history but we can change place names and street signs to reflect historical figures that we should respect and emulate. So if it'll heal old wounds, why not de-Wilsonize Princeton?
11
woodrow wilson cost jobs, not remotely as sad as the over 50,000 American soldiers killed on the battlefields of France and the 100's of thousands on both sides that dies because this "progressive" "liberal" democrat secretly, surreptitiously positioned this nation to enter a European war, despite the knowledge that the Germans wanted to negotiate a peace. How many millions of lives have been lost because of this once heralded as great Democrat lied to the American people? The total is in the hundreds of millions. Is this not the real righteous cause to remove this fiends name from Princeton?
And were are the commentaries about this progressive, liberal democrats fascist, racist views as a representative of a party lionized by the blacks of America?
And were are the commentaries about this progressive, liberal democrats fascist, racist views as a representative of a party lionized by the blacks of America?
2
I'm moved by what Mr. Davis says, but Princeton students seeking retribution against the racist legacy of President Wilson are saying as much about themselves as they are about the late president. To publicly grind an ax over Woodrow Wilson shows them to be at a loss for anything really important to do.
2
As a Princeton alumna, I respectfully disagree.
12
"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
My thinking - Wilson's evil acts out weigh the good. The peace of WW1 was no peace, just a preamble to the evils of WW2 which certainly had racial/ethnic conflict on many levels. Princton needs to adjust its image of Wilson accordingly.
Also - remembering the whole Wilson will hopefully teach many, including our pandering politicians of the right, that we are ultimately responsible for ALL our acts to a far greater audience than the current electorate.
My thinking - Wilson's evil acts out weigh the good. The peace of WW1 was no peace, just a preamble to the evils of WW2 which certainly had racial/ethnic conflict on many levels. Princton needs to adjust its image of Wilson accordingly.
Also - remembering the whole Wilson will hopefully teach many, including our pandering politicians of the right, that we are ultimately responsible for ALL our acts to a far greater audience than the current electorate.
7
"The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones"--from "Julius Caesar." Yes, it's inexcusable that Woodrow Wilson re-segregated Washington, and certainly at first he was totally against giving women the right to vote. But one event in his life Wilson never forget: at age 10 or so, holding the hand of his Presbyterian pastor father, standing in front of the manse in Augusta, Georgia, and watching arrested Confederate President Jefferson Davis being led through the streets in chains. This is, I think, what made Wilson such a great internationalist, despite his blindness on race and women's equality: our first President to journey abroad; his 14 Points at Versailles, which Clemenceau dismissed with a curt, "Mon Dieu! The good Lord himself had only 10 points!" His heartbreak at the way the Senate rejected U.S. membership in the League of Nations.
One must remember that nearly ALL white Americans were shameless racists before and even during Wilson's time. Even Lincoln was willing, at first, to allow southern states to continue slavery, as long as the Union could be preserved-- and most whites favored sending freed blacks to Liberia! Let the great Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton keep its name, while remembering that even the best among us are merely flawed and often blind human beings.
One must remember that nearly ALL white Americans were shameless racists before and even during Wilson's time. Even Lincoln was willing, at first, to allow southern states to continue slavery, as long as the Union could be preserved-- and most whites favored sending freed blacks to Liberia! Let the great Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton keep its name, while remembering that even the best among us are merely flawed and often blind human beings.
3
Let's just leave names, etc. as they are, but be certain that the true stories of President Wilson and all others be known. Times have changed since I attended segregated schools in Kansas City. My mother, who became a diehard. liberal Democrat when President Clinton was in office, had used the "n" word for years and felt they were "awful." But, she learned to appreciate people for what they were, not what they looked like, and discovered the joy of getting to know everyone she could without judging them by their skin color. This at a fairly advanced age. The amazing truth is that my mother's great grandmother was a Mulatto, Negro/Native American. She always hinted at "something" in her grandfather's family, referring to her own jet black hair and very dark brown eyes. (She had an "English" father and 2nd generation mother). I discovered the truth in my genealogy studies and DNA. I was delighted. I think she would have been as well. We can't change and shouldn't try to whitewash history.
4
JAW, it's not about "changing" history, it's about KNOWING our history and using that knowledge for good. We can't make Wilson's egregious racism disappear--it's a matter of record--but we don't have to venerate him either by naming buildings after him.
Similarly, the Confederate flag was (and is) a symbol of racism, of an attempt at establishing a country premised on slavery; we can't make the Confederate flag disappear from the history books and our personal memories, but we don't need to have it flying over public buildings.
Just as we are finally getting around to hauling down Confederate flags from state houses and other public structures, we can remove an avowed racist's name from university buildings.
See the point?
Similarly, the Confederate flag was (and is) a symbol of racism, of an attempt at establishing a country premised on slavery; we can't make the Confederate flag disappear from the history books and our personal memories, but we don't need to have it flying over public buildings.
Just as we are finally getting around to hauling down Confederate flags from state houses and other public structures, we can remove an avowed racist's name from university buildings.
See the point?
6
We must be careful not to throw white people in the trash. I think, and hope, that it's possible to acknowledge the wrong turns that countries make in their development as sovereign nations. Every conceivable ethic group has been demonized in America besides its indigenous inhabitants: Africans, Asians, Southern Europeans, the poor whites at the bottom of the ladders of their Western and Northern European nations. We somehow managed to right the listing ship through the narrow seas of nationhood but we're still not clear of the wreckage and flotsam of lost human lives. This column is proof of that. What people of color are weary of is an honest and honorable accounting of the displacement and the will to relegate the past to the past without paying stricter attention to the present and its natural offspring, the future. Every person who considers himself or herself a "decent American" should feel a hollow emptiness inside at the lost treasure of countless lives that could have enriched America beyond any blessing. This is not about reparations for slavery although Congressmen have angrily denounced the possibility, proof enough, in this quarter at least, of a determined obstinacy to address a painful wound and cauterize it for the betterment of the whole. America has too long run from its history, from itself, enabling the defenders of the past, and their offspring, to continue marginalizing "the other" as the price paid to honor "American exceptionalism." What a great cost.
5
This is an important issue. Perhaps names of individuals should be removed from all buildings and schools, lest we forget the deliberate practice of sexism which oppressed half of the human race.
2
Every single president has blood and trouble on their hands.
Even the ones with the best of intentions.
I wish people would start to really read history again and learn from the past.
And it seems only Americans think that they can change the world just by erasing things from buildings and books.
At this rate, I fully expect US students will be burning books in a few year's time.
Even the ones with the best of intentions.
I wish people would start to really read history again and learn from the past.
And it seems only Americans think that they can change the world just by erasing things from buildings and books.
At this rate, I fully expect US students will be burning books in a few year's time.
4
I don't think Wilson had the best of intentions when it came to race or civil rights.
9
I went to college in the 80s. Wilson was consistently portrayed as a great progressive.
It's only later that I learned about his racism, his Anglophilia, his botching of the German requests for peace talks, the race riots, the appointment of George Creel has an enthusiastic propaganda chief, the lockstep censorship of all levels of the press, the censorship of the mail, the magnification of the influenza pandemic due suppression of its magnitude due to wartime propaganda concerns (not to mention the role of the military rampup itself in spreading it). And, not least, his contempt for individual rights and the checks and balances of government. All combined with a religious sense of absolute righteousness.
Against ALL that, these latest concerns of systematic racism in government itself comes as no surprise. Wilson was a monster, likely worse than any Confederate leader we are also expunging from college campuses. We are still seeing his precedents used to justify many government excesses.
It's only later that I learned about his racism, his Anglophilia, his botching of the German requests for peace talks, the race riots, the appointment of George Creel has an enthusiastic propaganda chief, the lockstep censorship of all levels of the press, the censorship of the mail, the magnification of the influenza pandemic due suppression of its magnitude due to wartime propaganda concerns (not to mention the role of the military rampup itself in spreading it). And, not least, his contempt for individual rights and the checks and balances of government. All combined with a religious sense of absolute righteousness.
Against ALL that, these latest concerns of systematic racism in government itself comes as no surprise. Wilson was a monster, likely worse than any Confederate leader we are also expunging from college campuses. We are still seeing his precedents used to justify many government excesses.
12
Don't forget the Palmer Raids, union busting and the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs for exercising his First Amenment rights.
12
While we're at it, Henry Ford was a big anti Semite, I demand we rename the Ford Motor Company and eliminate all references to that man as a great inventor and American entrepreneur.
3
Why can't we accept that even people of great achievement are not all good, and everything each of them did was not necessarily why we consider them great? I'm sorry for the personal injury done to the grandfather of the writer and his family.
But there is a street in Prague, Wilson Street, that commemorates the fact that he took the US into World War I and in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919, following armistice, he traveled to Paris, promoting the formation of a League of Nations, and concluding the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson also, in 1918, endorsed the Nineteenth Amendment whose ratification in 1920 provided all women the right to vote. It was ratified over Southern opposition.
And those are just some of his achievements. While racism and racist acts are harmful, as your story demonstrates. they do not detract from the significance of the good that Wilson achieved. Part of balance in judgment is the ability to weigh these things. In the case of Woodrow Wilson, we shouldn't discard the good because of the bad.
But there is a street in Prague, Wilson Street, that commemorates the fact that he took the US into World War I and in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919, following armistice, he traveled to Paris, promoting the formation of a League of Nations, and concluding the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson also, in 1918, endorsed the Nineteenth Amendment whose ratification in 1920 provided all women the right to vote. It was ratified over Southern opposition.
And those are just some of his achievements. While racism and racist acts are harmful, as your story demonstrates. they do not detract from the significance of the good that Wilson achieved. Part of balance in judgment is the ability to weigh these things. In the case of Woodrow Wilson, we shouldn't discard the good because of the bad.
As in alignment with human nature, I only saw Woodrow Wilson from my own perspective. And it was just as jaundiced as those Princeton protesters. You see, I am a Caucasian female of Baby Boomer lineage, and when I turned 30 in 1983, I was given a memoir for my birthday from a sister NOW activist. The book was "Jailed for Freedom" by suffragist Doris Stevens. She chronicled her protests for women's suffrage alongside the great Alice Paul, as well as denigrated the thoughts and actions of the U.S. president in power - Woodrow Wilson, who fought the suffragists by beating and jailing them, and force-feeding those imprisoned when on hunger strike. Therefore, I never thought too much of him. I was astounded when I saw his memorial in Washington, D.C., especially the film depicting his presidential triumphs. Well... Now that I know further of his presidential fiascos in harming the lives of upstanding African-American citizens, my opinion of President Wilsom remains the same. He was despicable in his intentions and actions.
4
For every "life ruined" by a demotion, another's was improved by appointment to fill the vacancy. Is that what was happening here? President Wilson was filling positions for politically-connected people, keeping campaign promises? It still happens today, across the country, to government workers, whatever their ethnicity. Sometimes blacks are given the campaign payback position, sometimes whites, and etc.
2
These were civil service jobs which were supposed to be protected frim politics. Besides, these actions were motivated by racism, not partisan politics.
7
I disagree profoundly with those here who believe we shouldn't change the buildings names at Princeton. What these people are saying is, in effect, "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink", we were all kind 'a racist back in the day, right?"
If we wish to move this country forward in eliminating all vestiges of racism in society, in particular that based on skin color or physical characteristics, we have to be willing to evolve our understanding of American history based on our evolving identity. Wilson's racism was deliberate and systematic, and there can be no waffling about the moral underpinnings of his actions.
To not remove the glorification of Wilson at Princeton is a slap in the face of all people of color, it's Princeton's way of perpetuating the view that racism is not morally reprehensible, that it "really wasn't so bad after all." Tell that to the writer of this article.
If we wish to move this country forward in eliminating all vestiges of racism in society, in particular that based on skin color or physical characteristics, we have to be willing to evolve our understanding of American history based on our evolving identity. Wilson's racism was deliberate and systematic, and there can be no waffling about the moral underpinnings of his actions.
To not remove the glorification of Wilson at Princeton is a slap in the face of all people of color, it's Princeton's way of perpetuating the view that racism is not morally reprehensible, that it "really wasn't so bad after all." Tell that to the writer of this article.
6
I was ignorant of how racist Wilson was until the students started their protest. For remedying that, I salute them.
7
The solution is not to rewrite history, but to sue the federal government for reparations to his children and grandchildren, and perhaps even his great grandchildren for the opportunities they may have been denied by Wilson's actions. I would assume there must be thousands of people today who, instead of being born into the middle class, were born in poverty as a direct result of how this impacted their families. Find them, sue the government. Perhaps an agreement in which the government would provide scholarships to the 3rd and 4 generation of these victims, who may still be mired in poverty as a result of Wilson's bigotry, so they have a chance to regain the middle class birthright denied them. The government could also reserve a quota of civil service jobs for descendants of the victims. Change the future, don't rewrite history. If Princeton really wants ot make a positive contribution, approach their alumni (most of whom are privileged,and have them set up a compensatory fund for scholarships, and use their extensive networking to find people who may have been denied educational opportunities as a result of the historical fallout of Wilson's actions, to find them decent jobs so they can assure their children better opportunities, and reenter the middle class.
4
This is exactly the method Ta-Neihisi Coates advocates in his groundbreaking Atlantic article on reparations. His critics trot out the old meme of handing out checks to all Black people. Nope. It entails just what you describe in a precise fashion. There is no excuse because the public records coupled with personal testimonies are sufficient for this task.
5
Let's not forget that Wilson was a progressive democrat. He also was a firm believer in eugenics (which supported his racist views) as was that other important progressive of the time, Margaret Sanger. As a progressive democrat, Wilson knew he was the smartest person in the room and knew he was always right - which he used to empower himself to make sweeping changes ignoring typical democratic practices. It was that attitude, as much as his racism, that led to creating new policies that fit his vision of the world that led to your grandfather's humiliation.
2
Amen - I did not know this about Wilson and his administration and it is never to late to make amends. Changing the name of a building or a school can not begin to make up for what happened, but it is a simple act of understanding and recognition of a grievous wrong committed again a group of people Time to wipe the name off of the building and to acknowledge what happened!
2
Among the list of Wilson's sins, racism is simply one among many. He ushered in the income tax. He ushered in Prohibition. He involved us in a needless war at huge expense in lives and treasure. He vastly increased the size, scope, and expense of the federal government, a legacy which still haunts us 100 years later.
That said, one wonders: if Wilson's racist legacy compels a reassessment of whether he merits public honor, how long until FDR's name comes tumbling down for the unpardonable sin of throwing hundreds of thousands of Americans into concentration camps?
And, while we're at it, Paul Robeson was an unrepentant Stalinist, clearly warranting the removal of has name from any structure or street. Malcolm X said some deeply problematic things about race. ZAP!.
Heck, this could be fun. Pretty soon, all our public buildings will be "Building One, located at M Street and 4th Avenue", because there's bound to be someone offended, no matter the person chosen to be honored.
That said, one wonders: if Wilson's racist legacy compels a reassessment of whether he merits public honor, how long until FDR's name comes tumbling down for the unpardonable sin of throwing hundreds of thousands of Americans into concentration camps?
And, while we're at it, Paul Robeson was an unrepentant Stalinist, clearly warranting the removal of has name from any structure or street. Malcolm X said some deeply problematic things about race. ZAP!.
Heck, this could be fun. Pretty soon, all our public buildings will be "Building One, located at M Street and 4th Avenue", because there's bound to be someone offended, no matter the person chosen to be honored.
1
What about Washington, Jefferson? Mr. Davis has singled out Wilson but other folks will find equally valid fault in others.
I am a graduate of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School where I was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. My experience at Princeton over 20 years ago was one of the most rewarding of my entire life. As an active and proud alum (and racial minority), I often extol Princeton's virtues, chief of among them, the school's generous support of academic research and the pursuit of knowledge for all of its students, especially those who come from disadvantaged and/or minority backgrounds. Despite Princeton's historical legacy of racism, the Princeton of today holds itself to an extremely high standard of being at the vanguard of intellectual rigour and equality of access and opportunity particularly in the realm of US public policy. It would be a disservice, then, to Princeton's hard-earned modern-day reputation and efforts at inclusion, to continue to name its venerable school of public policy after a prominent US leader who strongly espoused and advocated racist government policies so much at odds with the tenets of Princeton's public policy teachings.
Certainly, Woodrow Wilson was a great leader on many fronts. His positive contributions to the world, the US and to Princeton University should be recognised. However, in the modern era, in a country that continues to be so affected by the complex and often painful issue of race, it seems quite inappropriate to continue to name Princeton's school of public policy after someone who used his position of leadership to institutionalise racism.
Certainly, Woodrow Wilson was a great leader on many fronts. His positive contributions to the world, the US and to Princeton University should be recognised. However, in the modern era, in a country that continues to be so affected by the complex and often painful issue of race, it seems quite inappropriate to continue to name Princeton's school of public policy after someone who used his position of leadership to institutionalise racism.
12
As we approach the 2016 Presidential elections, we should keep in mind that one of the graduates of Princeton University's esteemed Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs is Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Cruz graduated cum laude with a BA in Public Policy in 1992. Cruz is a brilliant man, a brilliant debater, and graduate of institution proud to bear the name of Woodrow Wilson.
6
Confronting cultural symbolism is an important exercise, and one that needs to be done periodically as norms evolve. In this context I salute this generation's attention to the names attached to elite institutions and other similar causes (flags, mascots, labels, pronouns).
However, to have any real impact, these naval-gazing activities need to be attached to a larger struggle which goes well beyond the merely symbolic and linguistic. This is where this current collegiate activism fails - and fails spectacularly to the point of near delusion at times.
Removing Wilson's name and/or images from Princeton is unlikely to have much real impact in the larger world. It's like Martin Luther King thinking that changing the label from "colored" to "black" was all that needed to be done. Nor did King confine his movement to college campuses and their parochial concerns - over student centers, curriculum, and the like.
There is too much emphasis now on the small-bore and personal. For a student at Princeton, this focus on Wilson makes sense, but given all we are dealing with in the world right now, it is a minor issue to the rest of us - and that includes economically-struggling African Americans.
However, to have any real impact, these naval-gazing activities need to be attached to a larger struggle which goes well beyond the merely symbolic and linguistic. This is where this current collegiate activism fails - and fails spectacularly to the point of near delusion at times.
Removing Wilson's name and/or images from Princeton is unlikely to have much real impact in the larger world. It's like Martin Luther King thinking that changing the label from "colored" to "black" was all that needed to be done. Nor did King confine his movement to college campuses and their parochial concerns - over student centers, curriculum, and the like.
There is too much emphasis now on the small-bore and personal. For a student at Princeton, this focus on Wilson makes sense, but given all we are dealing with in the world right now, it is a minor issue to the rest of us - and that includes economically-struggling African Americans.
3
At the moment, the tide is turning against those who held racially prejudiced views. At some time in the future, perhaps we shall see the tide turning against those who held homophobic views. Can't wait to see who survives that purging: I suspect almost no one born before 1930 will survive that one.
Maybe we can't expect folks to be wondrous, spectacular and just super-human in their humanism all the time. So if we can't, maybe we shouldn't.
Maybe we can't expect folks to be wondrous, spectacular and just super-human in their humanism all the time. So if we can't, maybe we shouldn't.
1
Progressives have consistently coverer-up for this poor excuse for a President. In addition to what he did as Pres. he blocked admission to Princeton of black students. He wrote that their admission would be "wasting" a seat that could be better used by a white student.
He also showed, for the first time, the racist film "Birth of A Nation" in the White House and proclaimed it a wonderful and great film.
Glenn Beck has been shouting into the wind for years about this very flawed man and his policies. Odd how now that Black students bring up this aspect the NYT finds space to "expose" this racist.
Wilson also illegally hid his stroke and let his wife and sec of State run the country while keeping the V.P. and congress in the dark.
He was a reprehensible "idealist" of the left. Like many his education did nothing to clear the deeply held prejudice's. Just like out present occupancy of the W.H. his hubris was only made worse by education and a sense of superiority.
He also showed, for the first time, the racist film "Birth of A Nation" in the White House and proclaimed it a wonderful and great film.
Glenn Beck has been shouting into the wind for years about this very flawed man and his policies. Odd how now that Black students bring up this aspect the NYT finds space to "expose" this racist.
Wilson also illegally hid his stroke and let his wife and sec of State run the country while keeping the V.P. and congress in the dark.
He was a reprehensible "idealist" of the left. Like many his education did nothing to clear the deeply held prejudice's. Just like out present occupancy of the W.H. his hubris was only made worse by education and a sense of superiority.
2
Unlike a student of history you seemed to have come in and gone out with all your preconceived ideas intact. I don't think that is the idea here.
2
The students have done Princeton U. and the rest of us a great service. Wilson was not simply a product of his time. He was a racist who took advantage of his position of power to promote his philosophy of white male supremacy. It may be comforting to think "that was then" but racism is a current topic. People with power are still looking to roll back the clock with false voter fraud issues to claim the ultimate prize of the Presidency and the Congress. We are well served to be reminded that laws that serve the powerless can be stripped away, returning us to "the good old days" of Woodrow Wilson.
21
Did Napoleon ever do things that harmed groups of people? Or Louis XIV? Or Catherine the Great? Or Winston Churchill (Gallipoli)? Or Queen Victoria (India, etc.)? Or Augustus Caesar? Each time there's a portrait in a museum, monument, building, or grand boulevard named in their memory, do we also need a plaque to "put in context" the harm they caused to some?
Indeed it will be a sad day when we have to re-write and blot-out history because some fragile and touchy soul might be offended!
Indeed it will be a sad day when we have to re-write and blot-out history because some fragile and touchy soul might be offended!
2
We have to rewrite history becuse it is highly biased having left out much that offends anyone who does not want to deal with its implications. There is a difference between a rewrite and a blot out.
2
What does any of that have to do with Princeton and the racist legacy of Woodrow Wilson? Your dismissive attempts to thwart the exposure of racism by claiming those who it effects are "fragile and touchy" speaks volumes to legacy of supremacy that you have come to enjoy and refuse to relinquish.
5
I like the idea that I read in an Op Ed from last week.
Rather then remove the 'offense', perhaps we should add onto the existing a follow up lesson of the changes that have occurred in our society. It would better serve to use this as continuous learning opportunities, than simply 'white washing' the issue, and learning nothing.
Rather then remove the 'offense', perhaps we should add onto the existing a follow up lesson of the changes that have occurred in our society. It would better serve to use this as continuous learning opportunities, than simply 'white washing' the issue, and learning nothing.
I want to thank Mr. Davis for writing this op-ed piece. Like most other USAmericans, I did not know about Wilson's racist actions. It is shocking. I do not know what Princeton should do, but I do wish my public school education had been less about promoting USAmerican myths and more about revealing true stories about our history. Myths are understandable (humans want them) but truth is more important in a civil society. We need to undertake a national effort in this regard.
6
In my family the first born son's given name has always been Thomas Henry. My grandfather broke tradition naming my father Thomas Woodrow because he wqs born on Woodrow Wilson's birthday in 1917. My dad followed tradition naming me Thomas Henry. My son would have been Thomas Henry X. That would have been pretty cool. I've always been disappointed my grandfather broke tradition. Now I'm aggravated having read this sad but insightful article. If it were me - I'd be changing my name.
I feel so bad for all those black families who's lives were greatly altered or destroyed because of a racist like Mr Wilson.
I feel so bad for all those black families who's lives were greatly altered or destroyed because of a racist like Mr Wilson.
2
Thanks for this. It gave concrete form to the history and legacy of Wilson's racism, currently being protested at Princeton. Most Americans probably remain woefully ignorant of this and other racist policies (regarding housing, for instance, as detailed in a recent book) that are not just unfortunate moments in our country's history but ARE our country's history. I'm not sure that removing Wilson's name from university buildings is the answer, but the conversation unfolding around that might help clarify the past and affect larger questions of policy today so that we can keep TRYING to make a more perfect union.
1
well, hang him then, but he's in Windbone. where will you be? beyond the grave revenge says something about blacks, but not ones i know: they don't
forget, but they forgive rather than kick it down the freeway.
forget, but they forgive rather than kick it down the freeway.
It is interesting that some of the commenters seem to have no dog in the fight at all, history-wise, don't care about historical accuracy a bit, don't like university students questioning anything, but then are in a lather to see this as some thunderbolt that will somehow destroy their own totally unexamined and cobbled-together version of American history. Why bother to care now?
7
Most Jews of the time had little regard for the accomplishments of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. Most women have little regard for the Pope in light of his leadership of a sexist church. Blacks should not be expected to honor Woodrow Wilson and should take offense when esteemed institutions, like Princeton, act like Wilson's racism was immaterial.
3
Jefferson and Washington both owned slaves so their monuments should be taken down and D.C. should be renamed.
1
Thank you, Mr. Davis! No it is NOT easier to admit where we came from and to recognize the "heroes" who made us (while forgiving them as men of their time) and then to move on an try to become better, as suggested in a comment. No, no, no. No one who writes cogently about this issue suggests we eliminate Wilson from the face of the earth. No one. What some DO recommend, however, is that we stop honoring him, confront the truth of his legacy, and then, yes, move on. Erasing Wilson's name from a building or taking down his picture does not erase me or take me down. It says we have honored the wrong person here. Rather have a memorial to John Abraham Davis and others whom Wilson enslaved than honor Wilson and those like him who hid behind the cloak of progressive government the evils of their thinking and their actions.
This IS an important issue. Davis is right, we must listen to the students and Princeton, and listen carefully, for our response will send a clear message not only to them but to their grandchildren. If you don't think so, just ask Mr. Davis!
This IS an important issue. Davis is right, we must listen to the students and Princeton, and listen carefully, for our response will send a clear message not only to them but to their grandchildren. If you don't think so, just ask Mr. Davis!
3
The more I learn about Wilson the more (grade school-instilled, white-washed) respect I loose. Beyond being an avowed racist, Wilson was somewhat a coward by today's standards. He followed popular sentiment perfectly but did not lead in a time or war; resisted augmenting the military for fear of inciting the aggressors - didn't even forcefully suggest arming transports with Navy crews after downing of several US-flagged ships in the Atlantic by German subs. This -after-Germany's telegram to Mexico was intercepted giving the latter control of several US states in return for help in their war effort. Princeton's always been somewhat stunted by Ivy League standards. Their promotion of a second rate politician to god-like status on their campus only serves to re-inforce this view.
5
What the president did was inexcusable but to say your father's career was destroyed is ridiculous.
First Woodrow Wilson was president for eight years and therefore should not be blamed for your fathers inability to find a good job for any period beyond those eight years.
Second your father could have found a job working someplace else.
There had to be other reasons your father's career did not advance as you think it should have.
Wilson did great things.
Even you have to agree.
He should be praised for those things even when we can agree he did bad things as well.
Should we take down his picture.
I say no because he wasn't that different in this respect from other people of his time or any time and should not be treated any differently than they are as if he was worse so if his picture is taken down then we should take them all down.
First Woodrow Wilson was president for eight years and therefore should not be blamed for your fathers inability to find a good job for any period beyond those eight years.
Second your father could have found a job working someplace else.
There had to be other reasons your father's career did not advance as you think it should have.
Wilson did great things.
Even you have to agree.
He should be praised for those things even when we can agree he did bad things as well.
Should we take down his picture.
I say no because he wasn't that different in this respect from other people of his time or any time and should not be treated any differently than they are as if he was worse so if his picture is taken down then we should take them all down.
Grandfather, not father.
And he did still have a job, just no the management job he had held for several years and apparently done very well.
He lost that job because he was black. Period. Getting an equivalent job in that era was pretty much a non-starter for a black man. Period.
And he did still have a job, just no the management job he had held for several years and apparently done very well.
He lost that job because he was black. Period. Getting an equivalent job in that era was pretty much a non-starter for a black man. Period.
9
The important lesson to glean from the story of Woodrow Wilson's racism is that racism was (and still is, but that is another topic) part of America's political culture in all social, income and educational classes. Mr. Wilson's wealth, education and overall privilege insulated him from competition with a rising black middle class, but he thought it best to keep boot heels on the necks of America's black citizens. Some of us think of racism as a characteristic of the uneducated working-class. It is not. It pervades all classes and is practiced by people regardless of their social or educational or economic circumstances. I grew up in comfortable circumstances, but the one person I knew who regularly used the n-word and told tales full of racial slurs was one of the wealthiest and nominally best-educated people in my social circle.
1
The protesters are unpleasant, as sanctimonious young people often are, but it sounds like there are some pretty good grounds for revisiting Princeton's embrace of Mr. Wilson.
8
Not trying to take anything away from Mr. Davis' point of view but, this revisionism must certainly lead us back to the American indians and the injustice done to them by the Euro-settlers of the continent. Scratch the biography of any President up to JFK/LBJ and I am confident an able historian will find something reprehensible to us today. How about we better focus and celebrate our current values and culture which has allowed us to grow and be better each generation rather than tear down and obliterate our collective memory and replace it with collective guilt and shame?
1
I've always thought naming schools for people was a bad idea, in general, so I can't say much about what Princeton should do. But there is definitely a difference between those who speak in racist ways but have no real power to do anything, and a man who used the great power and good will he had acquired to denegrate a whole group of people. Especially people who had worked very hard to get to the state in life the managed to attain. The civil service system in the U.S. has often lead the push for broadening the middle class. This is definitely a shameful case of going the other direction.
This is old news for some of us.
For those of you shocked, shocked....I would encourage you to seek out text that provides a three dimensional, well-rounded view of this country's history. America's high school textbooks, depending on where you live -- Colorado, Texas, to name just two states --- continue the same flag waving, rah rah, my country love it or leave it, rose colored glasses view of American history. Fine and dandy if you like your history like your politics, black and white, simple, no complexity needed. (Fox/Faux "News" viewers, you do as you're told and stand in this line. Here. Good.)
The same history that glossed over Wilson's overt racism glossed over Andrew Jackson's genocide of Native Americans, glossed over Jefferson's slave corporation and sexual exploitation of Black enslaved women, glossed over Nixon's successful southern strategy, glossed over Reagan kicking off his presidential campaign with a speech about "states rights" in Philadelphia, Mississippi, just down the road from where the civil rights workers were murdered by white homegrown terrorists.
I am not naive enough to believe that any of the USA! USA! USA! racist reactionaries will EVER change their narrow minds.
However, to those of my fellow Americans who are actually interested in learning the truth about your history, there's no excuse anymore. Take 15-20 minutes, go online, research, and order a book. Read it. Howard Zinn is a good place to start.
For those of you shocked, shocked....I would encourage you to seek out text that provides a three dimensional, well-rounded view of this country's history. America's high school textbooks, depending on where you live -- Colorado, Texas, to name just two states --- continue the same flag waving, rah rah, my country love it or leave it, rose colored glasses view of American history. Fine and dandy if you like your history like your politics, black and white, simple, no complexity needed. (Fox/Faux "News" viewers, you do as you're told and stand in this line. Here. Good.)
The same history that glossed over Wilson's overt racism glossed over Andrew Jackson's genocide of Native Americans, glossed over Jefferson's slave corporation and sexual exploitation of Black enslaved women, glossed over Nixon's successful southern strategy, glossed over Reagan kicking off his presidential campaign with a speech about "states rights" in Philadelphia, Mississippi, just down the road from where the civil rights workers were murdered by white homegrown terrorists.
I am not naive enough to believe that any of the USA! USA! USA! racist reactionaries will EVER change their narrow minds.
However, to those of my fellow Americans who are actually interested in learning the truth about your history, there's no excuse anymore. Take 15-20 minutes, go online, research, and order a book. Read it. Howard Zinn is a good place to start.
9
Thanks Josh for such an intelligent, non hyperbolic and factual response to the article.
1
You are not the ony victim of long ago discrimination. You must learn to put it behind you and move forward, like all the rest of us.
When the British allowed over a million Irish people to starve in the midst of plenty, the only aid Ireland got was from the Crow Indian Nation.
My family was starved to death, but we have tried to put aside our animosity to the British and not tear down leaders of the period. What happened to you was 100 years ago. Get over it.
When the British allowed over a million Irish people to starve in the midst of plenty, the only aid Ireland got was from the Crow Indian Nation.
My family was starved to death, but we have tried to put aside our animosity to the British and not tear down leaders of the period. What happened to you was 100 years ago. Get over it.
1
Try a duration of at least 350 years of slavery, and then continued persecution and discrimination to this very day.
2
If the Princeton students ever grow up they will realize that few if any of those who have, do or will rule us are even close to perfect. These students are included in our imperfections. Someone should write a book about all of the bad, corrupt, immoral, and illegal things our leaders and heroes have done. It would be longer than the bible. Get Obama, JFK; Johnson, MLK, Malcolm X, Clinton (both), Bush, Daddy Bush, Grandpa Bush, Reagan, Nixon, Harding, Washington, and certainly all of the others' names off of Everything.
Just You will remain: the Perfect Victim.
Solutions: Don't vote, they're all bad; Put their names on public toilets; Create a new system of leadership where only perfect people are allowed; You run for President.
Obviously, Mr. Davis, your grandfather was defeated by a terrible part of our history. But Willie Brunner who WAS perfect was killed by our Civil War that Lincoln started and he might have been President. Shall we and all of the Brunner family weep and scrub away old, Abe's name? Or should we gather our best available and move on, recognizing the good, bad and unavoidable? Rewriting history is a fascist trick.
Leave Wilson's name up there and make your grandfather's story the first in your book of the Bads.
Just You will remain: the Perfect Victim.
Solutions: Don't vote, they're all bad; Put their names on public toilets; Create a new system of leadership where only perfect people are allowed; You run for President.
Obviously, Mr. Davis, your grandfather was defeated by a terrible part of our history. But Willie Brunner who WAS perfect was killed by our Civil War that Lincoln started and he might have been President. Shall we and all of the Brunner family weep and scrub away old, Abe's name? Or should we gather our best available and move on, recognizing the good, bad and unavoidable? Rewriting history is a fascist trick.
Leave Wilson's name up there and make your grandfather's story the first in your book of the Bads.
1
Sorry I don't buy it. Mr. Davis does not look black to me and the only person in the photographs who appears black is the woman on the far left in the first photograph. I am a bit weary of "people of color" claiming to be aggrieved and now wanting to jump on the African-American bandwagon when in the past they did their best to "pass" and distance themselves from everything African-American.
1
Are you being serious? I really hope not. Skin color involves many genes and sometimes people who don't "look black" can, in fact, have African American heritage.
1
Are you serious, Lynn in DC? Yours is a pathetic attempt to distract from the very real injustice Mr. Davis's family has faced. No doubt the aftermath of Wilson's public policy includes the lower levels of wealth thousands of black families were able to accumulate compared to the similarly situated white families whose careers were not destroyed through no fault of their own.
You live in DC and have never seen a bi-racial person before? Everyone in this picture except the woman on the far left is clearly bi-racial. From the article we know that Mr. John Davis's father was white and his mother was black. In America, that means he is black - a person of color.
You live in DC and have never seen a bi-racial person before? Everyone in this picture except the woman on the far left is clearly bi-racial. From the article we know that Mr. John Davis's father was white and his mother was black. In America, that means he is black - a person of color.
6
Yes, Woodrow Wilson was a racist and took active steps to enact racist policies. Most of us know that. Does that mean he should be totally stricken from our memory? Does his racism erase all of his other qualities and attributes?
If so then we need to knock down the Jefferson and Washington memorials, strip their name from any university and public spaces, and take their faces off of our currency. If Woodrow Wilson deserves to be erased for being a racist what should we do to important historical figures who actually OWNED SLAVES?
If so then we need to knock down the Jefferson and Washington memorials, strip their name from any university and public spaces, and take their faces off of our currency. If Woodrow Wilson deserves to be erased for being a racist what should we do to important historical figures who actually OWNED SLAVES?
If it were possible he should be erased from history. Nothing should stand to celebrate this man. His brutishness should be the first thing noted about him. Let's also remember he worked against women's rights as well. Erasure!!!
2
Thank you Mr. Davis for sharing a personal family story.
All lives and their families do matter.
I tip my hat to Grandpa Davis.
And, I respectfully request readers of this note to do the same today to those individuals of all origins who strive every day to work hard, support families and build honest reputations despite social/legal road blocks and prejudices that may stand in the way.
Fight the right fight.
Peacefully and by example, of course.
All lives and their families do matter.
I tip my hat to Grandpa Davis.
And, I respectfully request readers of this note to do the same today to those individuals of all origins who strive every day to work hard, support families and build honest reputations despite social/legal road blocks and prejudices that may stand in the way.
Fight the right fight.
Peacefully and by example, of course.
6
Thank you Mr. Davis for writing this. It has been so frustrating to read all the comments in support of Wilson written by people who know nothing of the history, only the myth. Thousands of lives were destroyed by this man. It is no coincidence that the 1919 wave of white race riots that killed hundreds of blacks in cities across America took place during the Wilson regime.
7
I went to Princeton and this is a story I **NEVER** heard about Woodrow Wilson. I wish I had. That would not have caused me to dismiss everything I learned about him, but it would certainly have helped to put it in context.
I want my kids to know these kinds of stories about our founding fathers too. They might have been great men who helped found a great nation with many wonderful institutions, but they were deeply flawed as well and their legacies were not uniformly good.
Despite my desire to hear these truths and educate my children about them, I do not think we should erase the names of people from these institutions. If we erase these legacies of our past, we make it possible to forget them. We should not do that.
I want my kids to know these kinds of stories about our founding fathers too. They might have been great men who helped found a great nation with many wonderful institutions, but they were deeply flawed as well and their legacies were not uniformly good.
Despite my desire to hear these truths and educate my children about them, I do not think we should erase the names of people from these institutions. If we erase these legacies of our past, we make it possible to forget them. We should not do that.
1
Over its centuries of history, America was a racist nation. Sadly, some of the very best Americans were racists. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and even Ulysses Grant were slave-owning Presidents. Maybe we should judge the past on the terms of the present, and make no allowance for the context of the thinking in the past. I am sympathetic to those who want to confront our past racist legacy. But are we to rename Washington, DC? What do we call the Jefferson Memorial? If we try to expunge all of the racists of American history, there may not be much history left.
3
Wilson didn't simply suffer the prejudice of his times, he was a racist and a white supremacist. Even an open minded reading of his attitudes towards race are repugnant and by all means he deserves a demotion in an age of multi-culturalism. We should proudly denounce those most egregious enemies of equality, Wilson among them. To do anything less - to make apologies and excuses - would seem to me beneath the vision of a great republic.
10
As a historian with the University of Washington, I am not surprised to see Wilson's name come back around and become associated with racism. He was a man of his time- a southerner, born during the days of slavery, and raised in a racist household. Given what we have today, he would've been a different man. It is easy to criticize 100 years after the fact.
Wilson did a tremendous amount for the country, in fact, I believe he deserves more recognition. He brought us through World War I, was the first president to travel to Europe, and won the respect of the world; children in Paris through roses at his feet. Wilson's management of the war saved millions of lives. His League of Nations which failed to pass the senate, some experts believe, could have made World war II a much more minor affair.
He created our Federal Reserve system, expanded academic programs at Princeton, and made the university an academic powerhouse.
Every historical figure should be open to scrutiny- it is part of my job. But from this historian's perspective, and also as an African American, Wilson's policies were not as bad as FDR's Japanese Internment of 120,000, or LBJ's dehumanizing, racist Vietnam War fought over false pretenses in which a whole country was destroyed and millions in shambles, both the Vietnamese and many of our brave men and women.
What next- remove Jefferson's name from the Univeristy of Virginia?
Let us learn from Wilson's mistakes instead of completely tarnishing his legacy.
Wilson did a tremendous amount for the country, in fact, I believe he deserves more recognition. He brought us through World War I, was the first president to travel to Europe, and won the respect of the world; children in Paris through roses at his feet. Wilson's management of the war saved millions of lives. His League of Nations which failed to pass the senate, some experts believe, could have made World war II a much more minor affair.
He created our Federal Reserve system, expanded academic programs at Princeton, and made the university an academic powerhouse.
Every historical figure should be open to scrutiny- it is part of my job. But from this historian's perspective, and also as an African American, Wilson's policies were not as bad as FDR's Japanese Internment of 120,000, or LBJ's dehumanizing, racist Vietnam War fought over false pretenses in which a whole country was destroyed and millions in shambles, both the Vietnamese and many of our brave men and women.
What next- remove Jefferson's name from the Univeristy of Virginia?
Let us learn from Wilson's mistakes instead of completely tarnishing his legacy.
4
While Wilson was doubtless a racist and the policies outlined in the article deplorable, I don't think we should erase history by taking his name off buildings at Princeton or anywhere else; this only adds to the a-historical tendencies of American society and culture. Great men have flaws. Wilson did much for the country and for the world. That his Southern background (he was born in Staunton, Virginia) made him a racist is shameful. His record has been besmirched by these facts brought to light. But we need not deny his greatness in spite of defects by denying his historical importance and defacing his name from Princeton. He, as well as racism, are part of American history.
1
Why should we listen to the Princeton students? Wilson lived in a different time. Should we take down the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument? Come on. Get on with life.
6
Honestly, we can't be apologists for Wilson. Yes, he was a great leader in some respects but he implemented racist policies and was thus fatally flawed. As universities evolve and grow, part of the coming to terms with Princeton University's history should be renaming the Woodrow Wilson school and Wilson college. While you can say that Wilson was a product of his time, so was Abraham Lincoln. Quite a difference in political outcomes, I'd say.
6
I wonder if Mr. Davis realizes that focusing the conversation on this kind of historical debate lets real racism off the hook.
The most prevalent and insidious racism in America today is not the KKK screaming the "N" word or cops beating some innocent black guy. It is the quiet, polite racism of the middle class majority that acts politely and decently to black people's faces and then privately votes against any kind of measures that could actually benefit African American communities, for draconian criminal penalties that tear African American communities apart, for effectively segregated schools, and for transparently disenfranchising voting mechanisms.
If Mr. Davis succeeds in his efforts, all he will have done is give this group a reason to pat itself on the back and declare racism to be over once again. They will wear their smiles all the way to the voting booth to start the cycle over one more time.
The most prevalent and insidious racism in America today is not the KKK screaming the "N" word or cops beating some innocent black guy. It is the quiet, polite racism of the middle class majority that acts politely and decently to black people's faces and then privately votes against any kind of measures that could actually benefit African American communities, for draconian criminal penalties that tear African American communities apart, for effectively segregated schools, and for transparently disenfranchising voting mechanisms.
If Mr. Davis succeeds in his efforts, all he will have done is give this group a reason to pat itself on the back and declare racism to be over once again. They will wear their smiles all the way to the voting booth to start the cycle over one more time.
2
This is a hard issue, when you think of President Franklin D. Roosevelt creating internment camps for the Japanese in World War II. What do we do with that? I didn't know Wilson was so racist. Was Roosevelt racist too? That was a horrible thing for Roosevelt to do. Yet he has made a huge impact on our lives even today. Why do we name buildings after "famous" people anyway? Why not name buildings after John Davis and other normal people? Why do we put people of power and wealth on pedestals? Why do we need to create heroes of some and not all?
1
I'm very glad to have read this story, but even more I'm glad for the debate it generates. Beyond the question of Wilson's place in history and how he should or shouldn't be honored at Princeton is a broader issue: the deliberate, pervasive whitewashing of history at all levels and throughout the nation, by white racists trying to turn villains into heroes. Wilson is one of thousands to get this treatment. Every highway named for a racist - every statue, every park, every public building, every stained glass window, every historical marker that touts a Confederate, Klansman or segregationist must be scrutinized and corrected. This will take a campaign as thorough and long-lasting as the racist campaign that led to their elevation. It will take time and cost money; it will raise feelings of shame and regret, but we as a nation must undertake this - not just for history's sake but for our own future.
Today's polarization leads to division, which leads to violence. Five #BlackLivesMatter protesters in Minneapolis got shot last night by White supremacists. This is a problem for today, not an argument over yesterday. And it will only get worse if we let it fester. We can't afford, financially or politically, to lose another generation of young Black men and women. We need every social group to believe, and know from experience, that they can succeed if they work hard.
We are still shedding blood and losing lives, here and now, today. And it will only get worse. Act now.
Today's polarization leads to division, which leads to violence. Five #BlackLivesMatter protesters in Minneapolis got shot last night by White supremacists. This is a problem for today, not an argument over yesterday. And it will only get worse if we let it fester. We can't afford, financially or politically, to lose another generation of young Black men and women. We need every social group to believe, and know from experience, that they can succeed if they work hard.
We are still shedding blood and losing lives, here and now, today. And it will only get worse. Act now.
7
I think everyone knows that Woodrow Wilson held racist views that most of us find objectionable today. However, to allow that to take away from his remarkable presidency, his contributions to society, and those of other similarly fallen individuals, would be a tremendous mistake. We should have a dialogue about Woodrow Wilson, but if we continue to go around destroying our history - this young nation won't have much left.
2
How can history be destroyed by adding the missing pieces? Our cultural mythologies and historical facts are two different things. The South knows this well.
5
I can only wonder if this piece is being read by minority students who are currently attending Jefferson Davis Community College in Alabama!
1
I totally agree with the students. Racism is racism no matter when it occurred. These historical facts must come out and be acknowledged. With Yahoo's like Trump running for the highest office, we must stop this bigotry before it reaches office... No matter what that office.
5
The beauty of this issue is that the students are learning the value of organizing to achieve a goal. If Wilson's name is removed from certain institutions and such at the university, no harm will come to anyone and the world will continue to turn.
6
This is like the confederate flag.
Why do people have to agitate for this?
The real question is, do the powers that be at Princeton want this racist individual associated prominently with its facilities?
Of course there are no doubt many others who played a major and largely positive role in American history who were as racist as Wilson. Be interesting to see a list of them to understand the nature of the precedent that will be set if Princeton disassociates itself in this case.
Why do people have to agitate for this?
The real question is, do the powers that be at Princeton want this racist individual associated prominently with its facilities?
Of course there are no doubt many others who played a major and largely positive role in American history who were as racist as Wilson. Be interesting to see a list of them to understand the nature of the precedent that will be set if Princeton disassociates itself in this case.
2
It's not about you Mr. Davis. Unbeknownst to many blacks, who have been self-deprived of a thorough knowledge of American history, many, many Americans have suffered from discrimination.
Jews, Italians, Irish, Polish...literally millions of immigrants have been denied employment, denied university educations, etc. Pretty much all presidents until Eisenhower were anti-Semitic to one degree or another. So? Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish hospitals all across the country? Easy: Jews for literally forbidden from being admitted as doctors at all hospitals in the country.
Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish law firms? Well, because Jews couldn't get jobs in law firms, so they formed their own.
Almost everyone has a tragedy in their family background due to prejudice. You're is hardly unique. We can't keep relitigating the past, fighting over the impurity of historical figures. Enough already.
Jews, Italians, Irish, Polish...literally millions of immigrants have been denied employment, denied university educations, etc. Pretty much all presidents until Eisenhower were anti-Semitic to one degree or another. So? Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish hospitals all across the country? Easy: Jews for literally forbidden from being admitted as doctors at all hospitals in the country.
Ever wonder why there are so many Jewish law firms? Well, because Jews couldn't get jobs in law firms, so they formed their own.
Almost everyone has a tragedy in their family background due to prejudice. You're is hardly unique. We can't keep relitigating the past, fighting over the impurity of historical figures. Enough already.
7
Here is the best solution:
Keep the WW name, but simply amend it to 'Woodrow (The Very Racist President) Wilson.'
Everybody wins.
Keep the WW name, but simply amend it to 'Woodrow (The Very Racist President) Wilson.'
Everybody wins.
1
Liberals are going off the rails.
Yes Wilson was a racist. He was an imperfect person. But to deny his impact on history in other ways is absurd.
Get back to studying.
Yes Wilson was a racist. He was an imperfect person. But to deny his impact on history in other ways is absurd.
Get back to studying.
4
Lol. "Get back to studying". You didn't like what they turned up with their studies the first time.
5
Woodrow Wilson has never been one of my heroes, even though I was not aware of his beliefs about race. But if we are looking for perfection in everyone whose achievements we honor, we will never find it. None of us is perfect, and the heroes of history weren't, either. They were only human, and so are we, and all of us are limited in our wisdom. Today we are critical of people of former times whose actions and beliefs don't comport with ours. What do we say and do today - said and done in the best intentions - that will be held up to criticism, or ridicule, or even horror, in future generations?
2
The student protesters had a LIST of demands. The removal of the President's name from many memorials/buildings/programs is just one of several. In negotiations parties often bring outlandish requests/suggestions mixed with real and articulated desires to the table. Furthermore, the students are getting exactly what they really want: a full public ventilation of President Wilson's ACTIONS not just attitudes. Bravo!
5
You would be more accurate to say that Postmaster General Burleson mistreated your grandfather.
"Shortly after the April 11 [1913] cabinet meeting, cabinet members Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo and Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson segregated employees in their departments with no objection from President Wilson.(10) Segregation was quickly implemented at the Post Office Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired." http://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanhistory/p5.html
"Shortly after the April 11 [1913] cabinet meeting, cabinet members Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo and Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson segregated employees in their departments with no objection from President Wilson.(10) Segregation was quickly implemented at the Post Office Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired." http://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanhistory/p5.html
1
The most haunting phrase I find in this important critique is: "he reversed decades of racial progress." I never before understood that as a facet of Wlison's career. But the facts make it perfectly evident. I have very mixed feelings about changing the names of buildings or schools, or erasing murals. But something is clearly wrong in our culture if someone like me, who cares about history, was not cognizant of this aspect of Wilson's career.
15
Princeton has traded on and profited by the Wilson name for most of a century. Isn't it time to pay back? Princeton should establish a "Wilson Institute of Racial Integration and Restitution." Its purpose is to study the shame of segregation and its effects for the purpose of general enlightenment and provide solutions. Furthermore, it will catalog and quantify the restitution owed to victims of Wilson's hatefulness and bigotry.
9
I was unaware of this episode in American history. I thank you for this enlightenment. It appears proper and fitting that the legacy of Woodrow Wilson be reviewed and addressed.
6
I grew up watching Western movies where the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys always wore black ones. Americans seem to have a similar view of humanity, that people are either good or bad, either racists or supporters of diversity. Human beings aren't that simple. All of us are a full mixture of good and bad. If there is one rule that defines us it is that the more power we accrue the greater good we will do and the greater evil we will do right alongside the good. Removing Woodrow Wilson's name from Princeton University will only serve to paper over the evil things he did and remove both the good and evil from public view and discussion. We are much better served by keeping our shadow side exposed to the light of public review and discussion. Perhaps by doing this we will keep ourselves from denying the evil inclinations of our own shadow side in this time and place.
1
Wilson achieved greatness in many areas. Had he gotten this whole matter of race right, he could and would have been so much greater.
1
Thank you, Mr Davis, for sharing your grandfather's struggle. I had no idea that's Wilson's private views bore such strong translation into his public policy. I also had no idea how out of sync these views were with prevailing policy of the time. Your piece has changed my mind about the Princeton debate, and I thank you for this rather painful enlightenment.
Those that comment that "Wilson was a product of his times" have sadly missed the point of this piece.
Those that comment that "Wilson was a product of his times" have sadly missed the point of this piece.
7
Wilson's name should remain attached to any buildings or organizations. His "name" should become a teaching moment. To vividly illustrate how people who are renown or revered should be assessed for *all* of their deeds. Wilson might have achieved greatness as a statesman but his dark side must also be given equal time. Racism doesn't exist because *all* people are bad, rather that decent people have a bad side. Like the "good" Germans that tolerated the rise of Nazism, people in the US have turned a blind eye to racism. All people need to confront prejudice in all of its guises and refuse to be participants, either active or passive. Purging our history of racism will not enable us to progressively move forward as a nation.
4
Thank you for writing this column. I was raised to think well of Wilson and did until in college, I studied -- of all things -- film history. I learned about the incredibly influential film "Birth of a Nation". Brilliant and path-breaking in execution, utterly hateful and racist in its story, depictions, and intent.
Wilson showed it in the White House. The first film ever screened in the White House, and it was Ku Klux Klan propaganda. And Wilson knew that.
I could never admire him unquestioningly after that, and this column tells more of his history that EVERY American should learn. I haven't respected him as a scholar for years, because how can a truly intelligent person still blindly, irrationally hew to the false beliefs of racism? And how can I respect a President who used his office for the divisive and un-American ends of racism?
Take his name off.
Honesty and respect for the dignity of ALL Americans, all people, are more important American values than blind loyalty to a skewed picture of the past.
Wilson showed it in the White House. The first film ever screened in the White House, and it was Ku Klux Klan propaganda. And Wilson knew that.
I could never admire him unquestioningly after that, and this column tells more of his history that EVERY American should learn. I haven't respected him as a scholar for years, because how can a truly intelligent person still blindly, irrationally hew to the false beliefs of racism? And how can I respect a President who used his office for the divisive and un-American ends of racism?
Take his name off.
Honesty and respect for the dignity of ALL Americans, all people, are more important American values than blind loyalty to a skewed picture of the past.
11
I am glad that Wilson's awful racism is being recognized.
6
My Black grandfather and uncles were stolen from legally by Whites in Atlanta and when my 17 year old uncle moved to Chicago to escape racism in Atlanta. He told me, Whites would not hire him. Jewish people did hire him, but paid a small fraction of what a White man would have made.
My grandfather earned federal contracts to build roads in Atlanta. He was still cheated from wages. He hit a White man once for not paying him for his labor. He had to dress up like woman to escape the building. He was not proud of this moment. . His friends recommended he leave the next train out of Atlanta. He could not leave his children. He lost his self built home in Atlanta and a baby due to starvation during the depression
My grandfather's father earned his freedom from slavery with his construction skills. My grandfather's advice to me was to always to to the top White man for help.
We do not teach this in US history.
My grandfather earned federal contracts to build roads in Atlanta. He was still cheated from wages. He hit a White man once for not paying him for his labor. He had to dress up like woman to escape the building. He was not proud of this moment. . His friends recommended he leave the next train out of Atlanta. He could not leave his children. He lost his self built home in Atlanta and a baby due to starvation during the depression
My grandfather's father earned his freedom from slavery with his construction skills. My grandfather's advice to me was to always to to the top White man for help.
We do not teach this in US history.
3
As an African American I completely sympathize with any substantive effort (as this effort clearly is) to confront America's sorted racial history and compel us all to at least consider the huge artificial impediments to success that have denied (and continue to deny) the American dream to so many, simply because of their skin color. This message is especially relevant now with the rise of a particular form of new Republican Fascism exemplified by Trump.
However, I am not in favor of sanitizing monuments to (once) "Great Men"... because of their decidedly mixed records. Obviously, Germany was right to tear down Swastikas and statues of Hitler after World War II, and the wise folks in South Carolina, I dare say, were right to change the state flag, (monuments to histories losers and villains are rare for a reason) but at a certain point, the discussion that monuments to "impactful" historical persons engender is healthy and helpful and too much historical revisionism leads to empty parks and sanitized spaces devoid of meaning and educational opportunities. I shake my head in disbelief every time I see the Taliban tearing down ancient relics of long dead civilizations. How many men did the Hittites kill wantonly? What about the Pharaohs? Yet who would dream of destroying the Pyramids? So, let's not confine all bronze busts to Bugs Bunny and Walt Disney. Let's just make sure when kids look up Woodrow Willson they get a full and complete telling.
However, I am not in favor of sanitizing monuments to (once) "Great Men"... because of their decidedly mixed records. Obviously, Germany was right to tear down Swastikas and statues of Hitler after World War II, and the wise folks in South Carolina, I dare say, were right to change the state flag, (monuments to histories losers and villains are rare for a reason) but at a certain point, the discussion that monuments to "impactful" historical persons engender is healthy and helpful and too much historical revisionism leads to empty parks and sanitized spaces devoid of meaning and educational opportunities. I shake my head in disbelief every time I see the Taliban tearing down ancient relics of long dead civilizations. How many men did the Hittites kill wantonly? What about the Pharaohs? Yet who would dream of destroying the Pyramids? So, let's not confine all bronze busts to Bugs Bunny and Walt Disney. Let's just make sure when kids look up Woodrow Willson they get a full and complete telling.
4
Oh grow up, trying to judge yesterday's leaders through today's moralities is a useless task. If the students at Princeton do not like Wilson's history then transfer to Rutgers or Trenton State. Princeton should not accommodate your hurt feelings because the real world will not. Should the current administration at Princeton fold to these ridiculous demands then the alumni and parents should stop giving.
2
As we read this story, we should keep in mind the ongoing republican presidential campaign. Could we, in 2016, elect a president with views worse than those of Woodrow Wilson.
6
As someone else here mentioned, in spite of considerable education and interest in history, I never knew this about Wilson, who was the worst sort of racist, while holding the ultimate reins of power in America he systematically oppressed blacks.
There are those who are maybe just "men of their times" such as the slaveholders Washington and Jefferson, and then there are the active post Civil War American racist icons such as Charles Lindbergh and Thomas Edison. Woodrow Wilson is part of that club.
I wonder how the Texas Board of Education and it's revisionist history textbooks chooses to deal with this. And what do the schoolchildren of Virginia lean about their famous fellow Virginian?
There are those who are maybe just "men of their times" such as the slaveholders Washington and Jefferson, and then there are the active post Civil War American racist icons such as Charles Lindbergh and Thomas Edison. Woodrow Wilson is part of that club.
I wonder how the Texas Board of Education and it's revisionist history textbooks chooses to deal with this. And what do the schoolchildren of Virginia lean about their famous fellow Virginian?
6
Don't hide Wilson from public view; display his astonishing record, all of it.
3
Indeed, nobody's perfect. But, when you selectively, pointedly, and assiduously apply your lesser qualities to the deliberate harm of others do you deserve a special place in our memories?
8
PC witch hunts running amuck.....I remember as a child being with my mother, whom I had scolded for being a bigot, (she was) -- and she was cleaning out the basement. She found an old Life Magazine with an article in it about Eleanor Roosevelt. The picture showed a china figurine on Mrs. Roosevelt's dressing room table of three black American little girls, dressed as happy little slave girls, and the caption of the magazine addressed this figurine using the P word. My mother said, "There, it is alright for Mrs. Roosevelt." So, shame on Mrs. Roosevelt, are we not going to eliminate her from history, too??
2
Somehow, I think that today's students may look back on the time and their efforts as being a bit of over reaching.
2
Mr. Davis is singing the same tune with different words.I don't condone the racist policy of Woodrow Wilson but he was still a great American president. Self serving individual vendetta does not serve the cause of humanity. A man has to be taken in it's totality and not to be judged by only one of his actions in his life time. If we take great men like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. we will also find them as flawed human beings. Wilson was a product of his time. When Mr. Davis talks about his great grand father a white Washington lawyer and his great grand mother as his black "housekeeper" I wonder how he feels about the white lawyer as his great grand father was. By demeaning Wilson you also demean Washington, Jefferson and others who were racists and even worse, slave owners. Why don't we remove their names from all the places, why don't we erase a whole slate of names and start all over again.
What a hypocrisy !
What a hypocrisy !
1
Once you start down this road of erasing history ,good or bad there is no turning back . This is ,like it or not ,the fundamental transformation of this nation,from denying the constitution ,unless it is politically expedient, to blasting the slave owning first Presidents .Once you go there ,a Chairman Mao uniform for all citizens is mandatory ,the death penalty for drug dealers and executions in public.
2
I have read this article several times and can't get it out of my head. Some of these commenters ought to reread it. The accompanying photos are heartbreaking, in particular the family photo of Mr. Davis; he looks so weary and yet hopeful and trusting - and then we read the quotation from his letter, which is even more painful. Such unfairness! One wants to somehow know that he sees his successful progeny and is comforted, but - it's far from good enough.
It's not about the renaming of buildings, it's about what really happened to individuals. These stories must be told!
It's not about the renaming of buildings, it's about what really happened to individuals. These stories must be told!
9
A few questions for the Princeton students who are offended by the display of Wilson’s name and face.
1. Did you know about Wilson’s racist history before you applied for admission? If you did know, why did you apply to Princeton University? Were you not offended enough then to forego being admitted to a prestigious Ivy League school? What has changed since your admission that now makes you so offended?
2. If you did not know about Wilson’s racist past before being admitted, why didn’t you? If you had been concerned about not attending a university with a racist past, then surely you would have investigated its star performer. Had you investigated, you would have discovered Wilson’s deplorable bigotry and not attended. So, again, what has changed since your admission that now makes you so offended?
3.If you learned about Wilson’s deplorable past only after you started attending classes at Princeton, when and how did you first learn of these facts? How much time has elapsed between when you first learned of Wilson’s racist past and when you took any action in opposition? In short, when did all this toxic mixture of history and anger coalesce and why?
4.When you graduate and get one of those well-paying Ivy League jobs do you plan on holding a sit-in of the corporate president’s office if you dislike the company’s past/present racial attitudes? If not, why did you do a sit-in at your place of study? Is it perhaps because there are no consequences for your current actions?
1. Did you know about Wilson’s racist history before you applied for admission? If you did know, why did you apply to Princeton University? Were you not offended enough then to forego being admitted to a prestigious Ivy League school? What has changed since your admission that now makes you so offended?
2. If you did not know about Wilson’s racist past before being admitted, why didn’t you? If you had been concerned about not attending a university with a racist past, then surely you would have investigated its star performer. Had you investigated, you would have discovered Wilson’s deplorable bigotry and not attended. So, again, what has changed since your admission that now makes you so offended?
3.If you learned about Wilson’s deplorable past only after you started attending classes at Princeton, when and how did you first learn of these facts? How much time has elapsed between when you first learned of Wilson’s racist past and when you took any action in opposition? In short, when did all this toxic mixture of history and anger coalesce and why?
4.When you graduate and get one of those well-paying Ivy League jobs do you plan on holding a sit-in of the corporate president’s office if you dislike the company’s past/present racial attitudes? If not, why did you do a sit-in at your place of study? Is it perhaps because there are no consequences for your current actions?
2
Thank you sharing such a moving and important story of our past.
1
How far back should we go to punish and correct the past. As current standards change should everyone in the past be judged by those standards rather than by their historical era? Lots of groups humiliated other groups. Part of what history shows that over time there is less of it.
2
Better to educate people about the full man rather than just sweep him under the rug.
3
Tempering the institutional Wilson idolatry that doubtless exists at Princeton and at every other institution dedicated to supposed "Great Men" (and "Great Women") with a strong dose of history is a good, much needed remedy. But the righteous iconoclastic impulse to strip institutions of names of flawed individuals is of a piece with the fundamentalist certitude that leads ISIS to destroy ancient statuary and museum artifacts and the Taliban to blow up Buddhas. It is an impulse quite at odds with historical understanding, for in tearing down the past it glorifies the present as if it and we in our moment were outside, beyond the history of human error and delusion, even evil, of which we are very much a part.
3
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON WAS NOT ONLY A RACIST
TOWARDS BLACKS -- HE WAS ALSO A KNOWN ANTI-SEMITE . . .
...but I have always believed that his worse behavior was (as a Liberal idealist) getting us involved in the Great War which costs so many lives of Americans. Though he thought of this war as "the war to end all wars" ... which though well intentioned as he wanted to form the League of Nations but, the Congress didn't agree with and the U. S. never joined.
That's why Armistes Day is now called Veteran's Day. Too bad. It took FDR and Truman to be involved in the creation of the United Nations ... an organization that though, in the main, is impotent does do some good.
As far as erasing Wilson's name from all parts of the Ivy League University he was president of before going to the White House. No!
At the time he was involved with Princeton and U. S. president ... he was just a product of his time.
If his name, sculpture and painting are removed ... then why are Washington and Jefferson so revered and admired both were slave holders?
If in decades, our nation becomes majority vegetarians or vegans and the new ethos is that carnivores are barbaric ... what will happen to the people we now admire ... for we are all the result of the cultural values which are present during the time we live.
TOWARDS BLACKS -- HE WAS ALSO A KNOWN ANTI-SEMITE . . .
...but I have always believed that his worse behavior was (as a Liberal idealist) getting us involved in the Great War which costs so many lives of Americans. Though he thought of this war as "the war to end all wars" ... which though well intentioned as he wanted to form the League of Nations but, the Congress didn't agree with and the U. S. never joined.
That's why Armistes Day is now called Veteran's Day. Too bad. It took FDR and Truman to be involved in the creation of the United Nations ... an organization that though, in the main, is impotent does do some good.
As far as erasing Wilson's name from all parts of the Ivy League University he was president of before going to the White House. No!
At the time he was involved with Princeton and U. S. president ... he was just a product of his time.
If his name, sculpture and painting are removed ... then why are Washington and Jefferson so revered and admired both were slave holders?
If in decades, our nation becomes majority vegetarians or vegans and the new ethos is that carnivores are barbaric ... what will happen to the people we now admire ... for we are all the result of the cultural values which are present during the time we live.
2
First and foremost what Wilson did was and is reprehensible. However, do we throw the baby out with the bath water? None of this should be whitewashed, his record, both good and bad should be documented and displayed. And the people calling for his total removal from Princeton should take a step back and recognize by showing both sides of the Wilson coin we are offering a whole picture that demonstrates the large expanse of gray that exists between black and white. The message should be that these types of actions never be tolerated in society. The efforts being made to rewrite history are disturbing to say the least, especially in light of the fact that digitized versions can be erased and reworked with just a few clicks.
1
Change the name so the world will realize that we do not accept that kind of thinking. Right now we have a presidential candidate who has similar views and wide support though no where a majority. People need to realize that they are on the wrong side of history.
6
What about hearing about the women who were American citizens and married to foreign nationals during the first and second world wars, and as a result lost their citizenship and were deported to live in a foreign land where most of them could not speak the language and had no prior contact? Not interested?
The world is hard, it is cruel, and trying to obtain personal advantage and privilege today because one's ancestors were wronged does not build a better nation or society. It creates anger and discord and stokes racial conflict. And it does zero to solve the enormous social problems existing in the *people of color* communities today. It will not change a culture that produces students who think it appropriate to yell obscenities at a professor and tell him to *shut up*, and who chose arson and theft as forms of entitlement. You can eradicate Wilson's name from every building and page but that will not solve the enormous social problems.
I doubt many educated people believe that Wilson was an excellent president. He was arrogant and self satisfied, and ineffective; a quality we find today in elected officials to the highest offices.
The world is hard, it is cruel, and trying to obtain personal advantage and privilege today because one's ancestors were wronged does not build a better nation or society. It creates anger and discord and stokes racial conflict. And it does zero to solve the enormous social problems existing in the *people of color* communities today. It will not change a culture that produces students who think it appropriate to yell obscenities at a professor and tell him to *shut up*, and who chose arson and theft as forms of entitlement. You can eradicate Wilson's name from every building and page but that will not solve the enormous social problems.
I doubt many educated people believe that Wilson was an excellent president. He was arrogant and self satisfied, and ineffective; a quality we find today in elected officials to the highest offices.
3
I am trying to understand forces which brought the issue of Woodrow Wilson's record and racist climate at Colleges to the fore. Surely, his record must be known to some if not a large contingent the Princeton community for quite some time. Nowadays, building and schools are named for people primarily because they are willing to donate large sum of money so that their names can live forever.
I would venture to suggest that one underlying sources of discontent is in part the result of an admission process that attempt to accept students with different background so that the student body "looks" diverse, but are likely to come from similar socio-economic background. But students are expected to sink or swim after they are admitted.
Community colleges and Public Universities do a better job in preparing students who may not have had the same academic training as other students by providing remedial classes for these students take regular college classes.
Ivy League students also have to deal with students who are smarter, come from much wealthier families than they. Perhaps it is time for these Prestigious Private colleges to learn from Public Universities and even Community colleges on how they can better prepare students
I would venture to suggest that one underlying sources of discontent is in part the result of an admission process that attempt to accept students with different background so that the student body "looks" diverse, but are likely to come from similar socio-economic background. But students are expected to sink or swim after they are admitted.
Community colleges and Public Universities do a better job in preparing students who may not have had the same academic training as other students by providing remedial classes for these students take regular college classes.
Ivy League students also have to deal with students who are smarter, come from much wealthier families than they. Perhaps it is time for these Prestigious Private colleges to learn from Public Universities and even Community colleges on how they can better prepare students
3
Don't Subtract History, Add More History
Even as a leftist and aware of Wilson's racism, I was originally somewhat ambivalent about this controversy and its seemingly retroactive puritanism.
This article changed my mind. I was unaware of Wilson's active, presidential hand in our postwar apartheid and its very real, lasting effects. Though it may not the most important thing and can be a feel-good distraction, historical symbolism does matter, and if enough students feel strongly about Wilson, I cannot disagree.
Still, the crucial thing is that the history itself be taught and remembered. Perhaps sharply "footnoting" any Wilson commemoration would be more effective than simply eliminating it. Better to expand and clarify history than reduce it. Why not a memorial on Princeton campus to those civil servants, like John Abraham Davis, who lost their jobs in their own struggles against the likes of Wilson?
Even as a leftist and aware of Wilson's racism, I was originally somewhat ambivalent about this controversy and its seemingly retroactive puritanism.
This article changed my mind. I was unaware of Wilson's active, presidential hand in our postwar apartheid and its very real, lasting effects. Though it may not the most important thing and can be a feel-good distraction, historical symbolism does matter, and if enough students feel strongly about Wilson, I cannot disagree.
Still, the crucial thing is that the history itself be taught and remembered. Perhaps sharply "footnoting" any Wilson commemoration would be more effective than simply eliminating it. Better to expand and clarify history than reduce it. Why not a memorial on Princeton campus to those civil servants, like John Abraham Davis, who lost their jobs in their own struggles against the likes of Wilson?
5
No one will defend Wilson on this issue. No one can.
We all feel the moral weight of the charge. We know that he is guilty.
What we worry about is the slippery slope. Ultimately, all of our founding fathers were white, and ultimately the whites are complicit. So, the whites have to go.
But with their exit, so too exits our sense of pride in the country. Our history becomes reformatted to one of injury and insult.
The slippery slope is that we become ashamed of our history, rather than proud of our history. Children who hate their parents rarely grow up to become happy and successful. Children who learn forgiveness live happier lives and ultimately fair better.
We all feel the moral weight of the charge. We know that he is guilty.
What we worry about is the slippery slope. Ultimately, all of our founding fathers were white, and ultimately the whites are complicit. So, the whites have to go.
But with their exit, so too exits our sense of pride in the country. Our history becomes reformatted to one of injury and insult.
The slippery slope is that we become ashamed of our history, rather than proud of our history. Children who hate their parents rarely grow up to become happy and successful. Children who learn forgiveness live happier lives and ultimately fair better.
Okay, let's stop being children. Time for all white people to grow up and stop with the hands over the ears thing.
2
Some commentators seem to be confusing recognizing people's place in history with honoring them. We can recognize that Woodrow Wilson made important contributions to some aspects of our nation in history books, while not honoring him with the special recognition of, for example, naming something after him. What Gordon Davis describes as Wilson's assault on African Americans sounds like an effort above and beyond the behavior of some other contemporary White politicians.
Even among the "founding fathers" of the US, some of them were slaveholders who later freed their slaves and joined the anti-slavery movement (Franklin), while others never freed their slaves, even in their will(Jefferson). Same country, same time in history, both famous, and great contributors in many fields--but very different moral choices. I think those moral choices legitimately affect who we choose to honor.
Even among the "founding fathers" of the US, some of them were slaveholders who later freed their slaves and joined the anti-slavery movement (Franklin), while others never freed their slaves, even in their will(Jefferson). Same country, same time in history, both famous, and great contributors in many fields--but very different moral choices. I think those moral choices legitimately affect who we choose to honor.
6
Mr. Davis:
Changing the name of Princeton's School of Public Policy will not:
* Get your grandfather's job back.
* Erase America's legacy of slavery, segregation or racism.
* Mitigate racism perpetrated against blacks and other minorities today.
* Improve the 26.6% black poverty rate.
* Free the 2.3 million incarcerated blacks or reform racial disparities in prosecution and punishment
* Provide one single job for black people experiencing double national unemployment rate
* Improve inner-city schools in which majority-minority populations languish
* Stop one racist cop from beating, framing or killing innocent black men
* Raise the black college graduation rate (about 42%) or high school rate (about 69% nationally, but as low as 48% in some states).
* Bring black families together or address the 67% single-parent family rate
* Raise black's mean salary from $35k to the national average of $53.6k.
* Get the scourge of illegal drugs out of black communities
At long last, society is paying attention to African American concerns and the abuses against it. Black Lives Matter is bringing these issues into our conscience in a way that we have not seen for twenty years. The, the Million Man March had great potential that was squandered by Rev. Farakan's silly demands and revisionary history and, as such, didn't improved the live of one black Americans. I am concerned that people like Mr. Davis will similarly co-opt and squander the potential of this social moment.
Changing the name of Princeton's School of Public Policy will not:
* Get your grandfather's job back.
* Erase America's legacy of slavery, segregation or racism.
* Mitigate racism perpetrated against blacks and other minorities today.
* Improve the 26.6% black poverty rate.
* Free the 2.3 million incarcerated blacks or reform racial disparities in prosecution and punishment
* Provide one single job for black people experiencing double national unemployment rate
* Improve inner-city schools in which majority-minority populations languish
* Stop one racist cop from beating, framing or killing innocent black men
* Raise the black college graduation rate (about 42%) or high school rate (about 69% nationally, but as low as 48% in some states).
* Bring black families together or address the 67% single-parent family rate
* Raise black's mean salary from $35k to the national average of $53.6k.
* Get the scourge of illegal drugs out of black communities
At long last, society is paying attention to African American concerns and the abuses against it. Black Lives Matter is bringing these issues into our conscience in a way that we have not seen for twenty years. The, the Million Man March had great potential that was squandered by Rev. Farakan's silly demands and revisionary history and, as such, didn't improved the live of one black Americans. I am concerned that people like Mr. Davis will similarly co-opt and squander the potential of this social moment.
2
The point of the article is to illustrate unequivocably how a long ago instituted policy gave rise to all of the ills you listed. I guess you missed that in your close careful reading (side eye).
3
@ Doubting thomasina -
Thanks for the insight, though the condescension is a little unhelpful. My point is that focusing on righting the historical record does little to address ongoing problems and can be an easy substitute for the hard choices and real sacrifice require to effect meaningful change.
Thanks for the insight, though the condescension is a little unhelpful. My point is that focusing on righting the historical record does little to address ongoing problems and can be an easy substitute for the hard choices and real sacrifice require to effect meaningful change.
2
No, but like any dysfunctional family, when the Truth comes out, good things can begin to happen.
Knowing that it was A-OK for someone to thwart your grandparents' upward mobility- from the President on down, is valuable information. It adjusts a myth. That's a good thing whether anyone else values it or not.
Knowing that it was A-OK for someone to thwart your grandparents' upward mobility- from the President on down, is valuable information. It adjusts a myth. That's a good thing whether anyone else values it or not.
3
Thank you for this article, which introduced me to a chapter of our history I was unaware of. The older I get, the more I realize that the way we teach the history of civil rights in this country is deeply flawed and contributes to current inequality and political inaction. In school, we learned about slavery and the civil rights movement but that was pretty much it, as far as the unique experience of Black Americans. What happened in the 100 years between those events simply wasn't taught, or was briefly alluded to as something that mostly happened in the deep south. I'm sure part of this is shame and embarrassment: for 100 years millions of US citizens, in every facet of civil society, conspired to terrorize, intimidate, and undermine their Black fellow citizens from such simple acts as voting, getting a good education, owning a home, earning a decent living. But ignorance of that history (I think I was 30 before I heard the word 'Redlining') makes it easy for even well-educated white Americans to wonder why, despite slavery being "so long ago" Black Americans still are disproportionately poor and marginalized. Think how different our country be if all the John Abraham Davises two and three generations ago had enjoyed professional success, been able to hire other Black employees and mentor them, been able to buy and sell homes in any neighborhood, been able to send their children to the schools and universities of their choosing...
5
This is a bit tangential, however, it is sad to see reflexive "well yeah he was racist BUT" responses from so many commenters. Worse yet many change the subject and throw dirt on other public figures such as Rev. King and contemporary figures like Al Sharpton. To what purpose? To get people to stop reading and move on because after all once you mentioned transgressions like plagerizing dissertations (which I personally not sure is even true; it may be) or being a "loud mouthed" firebrand or "race-baiter" or whatever name you want to call him today the entire discussion is now illegititmate? Why stray from the points of discussion to do that? It would be refreshing for many to stay on topic. The article I though was about illustrating how the direct ACTIONS of President Wilson resulted in the economic subjegation of thousands of American CITIZENS. Reconstruction unequivocally resolved the key issue after emancipation: Black people were and ARE American CITIZENS; not stateless individuals wandering the ruined Southern countryside subject to the whims of a vengeful Dixie and her Northern sympathizers. To abridge their rights was/is an aggregious crime of which President Wilson was directly guilty. His policy doomed thousands of Black Americans to lives characterized by lack of opportunity that continues for many today. Yes the writer's family has succeeded beyond what most expect in general. However, that doesn't excuse the vengeful and vindictive policies Mr. Wilson insituted.
4
When people ask what does "Black Lives Matter" mean, it means this.
9
The United states was built on the notion of freedom but the engine running the economy was fueled by Slavery. The founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence but years later signed their names to a constitution which protected slavery. It was nearly impossible to extract slavery because slaves were the second largest asset behind land. It would be the equivalent of taking away everyone's 401k assets. We were stuck until a civil war ripped slavery froms its roots. Afterwards the reconstruction was defeated in the south and a vicious Jim Crow system was forced into society. Woodrow Wilson was born into that society and he embraced it. We must remember that other people were born into that society and did not accept it. Wilson was a highly educated man who could not overcome his prejuidice or bridle his compulsion to institutionalize his beliefs by segregating the Government. He deserves to be harshly criticized along with Jefferson, Washington, Andrew Jackson and the other slave holders who knew better but enjoyed the wealth that Slavery provided. Other men of that time, like John Adams and Ben Franklin, did not have slaves and despised the system. In the 20th century, there are plenty of important figures who prolonged racism. Many were politicians who wanted to play up to their base similar to the thinly veiled racism in the current presidnetial election. It's a disease.
6
As terrible as this story is, history can not be changed. We can only recognize and understand it. Thus, the France and Germany are now allies. The United states and Great Britain are allies. Israel and Egypt are at peace despite not only wars of recent past, but enslavement of the Jewish people some 3,500 years ago. On Passover, we will remember the enslavement, but we will work with the Egyptians for a better world.
So too, we can not ignore Wilson's contributions nor may we ignore his faults. Wiping Princeton's slate clean of his name is another way of putting our heads, and our children's heads in the sand. It does not do justice to his good deeds nor allow for recognition of his failings.
So too, we can not ignore Wilson's contributions nor may we ignore his faults. Wiping Princeton's slate clean of his name is another way of putting our heads, and our children's heads in the sand. It does not do justice to his good deeds nor allow for recognition of his failings.
2
The biblical admonition regarding the visitation of the sins of the father upon the son to the third and fourth generations comes to mind whenever we address the full legacy of our past. We cannot change history, but we all can and should acknowledge it with clear eyes and learn from it. It is a fool's errand to try to correct the sins of the past, when we are so pathetlcally unwilling and unable to correct the sins of our present. Wilson, like all humans, was a mixed bag of good and bad. Rather than trying to erase him from history (good luck with that), the better course would be to acknowledge and learn from his full legacy. Maybe that would help us avoid running down some of the rat holes that are currently enticing us to engage in shortsighted and morally bankrupt behavior that will prove, in the eyes of history, to be our own badges of shame.
1
Bringing this issue down to actual cases like this one should help show people who don't get it what this is all about. Actual people suffered. And it cannot be justified by saying "that was then." America is still paying for the institutional racism and bigotry imposed on the nation by people like Wilson.
But the crowd who think this is the work of uppity "PC" students will never get it.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
But the crowd who think this is the work of uppity "PC" students will never get it.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
10
I think what people think that "PC students" (your words, not mine) is that symbolic action will never trump effecting real change, regardless of its righteousness.
We have a real opportunity in this particular moment in history where society is focused on, and listening to, black concerns. Those interested in real change are worried that chasing down history will be an easy and meaningless substitute to confronting the actual issues that society needs to address.
We have a real opportunity in this particular moment in history where society is focused on, and listening to, black concerns. Those interested in real change are worried that chasing down history will be an easy and meaningless substitute to confronting the actual issues that society needs to address.
1
No, NOT my words. Look again. Read my brief comment. The detractors are using that term. Hence the quotation marks.
PC was created by the right wingers so they could seem brave while trashing people. "Now this is not politically correct, but..." used to be "Hey, don't get me wrong, but..."
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
PC was created by the right wingers so they could seem brave while trashing people. "Now this is not politically correct, but..." used to be "Hey, don't get me wrong, but..."
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
@ Rev. E.M. Camarena, Ph.D. -
Fair enough. We can agree that "uppity PC students" is an offensive and unhelpful term that doesn't add anything to either side of the debate.
I love your point though. Whenever you hear the words, "I don't want to sound racist, but..." , you know that you're about to hear something awfully racist. The only aspect where I diverge with your opinion is that "PC" is a purely right wing phenomenon. It's a straw man used throughout the political spectrum by those who want cover for saying blatantly offensive things.
Fair enough. We can agree that "uppity PC students" is an offensive and unhelpful term that doesn't add anything to either side of the debate.
I love your point though. Whenever you hear the words, "I don't want to sound racist, but..." , you know that you're about to hear something awfully racist. The only aspect where I diverge with your opinion is that "PC" is a purely right wing phenomenon. It's a straw man used throughout the political spectrum by those who want cover for saying blatantly offensive things.
2
President Wilson embraced segregation for Federal employment. Today we have a program of institutional racism disguised with the benign name of Affirmative Action. In terms of great men (and women) with character flaws, it applies to everyone who is human. In reading the recent obit for the Korean President, I was struck by how much good he did, as well as his many flaws. The same can be said for FDR, JFK, RFK, and MLK. Reagan too. Wilson was president of Princeton, then Governor of New Jersey, and then President of the United States. He was also a successful Commander in Chief (we should be so lucky today). The people who object to Wilson are intellectual pygmies attacking a Giant. They should be ignored until they achieve similar greatness.
3
And this 'institutional racism" attacks who? This is just another example of "let's throw out some words make people angry because THOSE PEOPLE got something they didn't deserve but they make ME work for it" meme. Please...
1
Wilson’s white supremacist attitudes were dreadful in part because as president he represented all Americans, but in large part because of the impact they had to real people. But how UNrepresentative of attitudes then and prior to his time were they? The truth is that they were shared by the vast majority of Americans then and for all times back to the landing at Plymouth Rock of the Mayflower in 1620.
Do we edit from history distinction accorded to ALL presidents before Harry Truman, who desegregated the U.S. military (but remained personally racist)? Do the mores of 2015 justify reaching back in time, ignoring the context of those times, to impose them on 1915? Do we scratch the accomplishments of Columbus from history because he eventually caused the extermination of whole indigenous peoples – when the forced religious conversions, violence and disease that did this were either widely-accepted norms of the time or accidents?
Presidents prior to Wilson since our civil war didn’t actively segregate government, but wasn’t that more an unwillingness to disturb inertia as anything else? Putting aside their actions, were their attitudes really that different from Wilson’s?
It’s right that students, black and otherwise, demand that Princeton confront Wilson’s racist convictions and actions; and it’s right that Princeton do this. But it’s wrong that we take Wilson entirely out of his times and judge him forever on one aspect of his life by our more enlightened convictions.
Do we edit from history distinction accorded to ALL presidents before Harry Truman, who desegregated the U.S. military (but remained personally racist)? Do the mores of 2015 justify reaching back in time, ignoring the context of those times, to impose them on 1915? Do we scratch the accomplishments of Columbus from history because he eventually caused the extermination of whole indigenous peoples – when the forced religious conversions, violence and disease that did this were either widely-accepted norms of the time or accidents?
Presidents prior to Wilson since our civil war didn’t actively segregate government, but wasn’t that more an unwillingness to disturb inertia as anything else? Putting aside their actions, were their attitudes really that different from Wilson’s?
It’s right that students, black and otherwise, demand that Princeton confront Wilson’s racist convictions and actions; and it’s right that Princeton do this. But it’s wrong that we take Wilson entirely out of his times and judge him forever on one aspect of his life by our more enlightened convictions.
1
It's not just the President's attitudes that were/are repugnant. What is really at issue is the direct ACTIONS Mr. Wilson took in vindictively segregating the Federal government and changing the status quo then with impacts that are still felt by generations NOW.
3
Doubting:
I suppose similar things might be said of Andrew Jackson, who, despite significant resistance from Congress, forced Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears", forcibly relocating tens of thousands of Cherokee people to territories west of the Mississippi River; or FDR himself, who forcibly relocated and interned more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II for the crime of having Asian heritage. These were actions, not merely expressions of racism, and the impact of FDR's lives on in people today.
As I said, Wilson's actions, as well as his attitudes, should be confronted and acknowledged by Princeton; but this program of vilification, 100 years after the events and in a moral atmosphere radically different today than then, is unreasoable.
I suppose similar things might be said of Andrew Jackson, who, despite significant resistance from Congress, forced Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears", forcibly relocating tens of thousands of Cherokee people to territories west of the Mississippi River; or FDR himself, who forcibly relocated and interned more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II for the crime of having Asian heritage. These were actions, not merely expressions of racism, and the impact of FDR's lives on in people today.
As I said, Wilson's actions, as well as his attitudes, should be confronted and acknowledged by Princeton; but this program of vilification, 100 years after the events and in a moral atmosphere radically different today than then, is unreasoable.
1
True, similiar things could be/are said about Andrew Jackson. And I would welcome a discussion on his policies regarding our Native American citizens. However, I prefer to stick to the topic at hand: The Wilson Presidency and it's clear effect on (at least one family) people. Not just Black Americans but all Americans. He actively set up a status quo that still requires dismantling.
It's so interesting that whenever a topic regarding Black Americans in particular the conversation is somewhat hijacked to discuss other oppressed groups place in history. I doubt that is the aim of the students. Their goal is already occuring: full presentation and contextualization of Wilson vis a vis Black Citizens of America. This piece wasn't meant to speak to any other experience. Let's try to sit with Mr. Davis and acknowledge how bad and unfair this felt to his grandfather and feels to his descendants. i wish many on this comment board would stop obfuscating and deflecting to other topics right now in an effort to relieve the cognitive dissonance of racism in America.
It's so interesting that whenever a topic regarding Black Americans in particular the conversation is somewhat hijacked to discuss other oppressed groups place in history. I doubt that is the aim of the students. Their goal is already occuring: full presentation and contextualization of Wilson vis a vis Black Citizens of America. This piece wasn't meant to speak to any other experience. Let's try to sit with Mr. Davis and acknowledge how bad and unfair this felt to his grandfather and feels to his descendants. i wish many on this comment board would stop obfuscating and deflecting to other topics right now in an effort to relieve the cognitive dissonance of racism in America.
3
As a person of color I can somewhat appreciate that light is being shined on "great men" who committed acts that were not so great(even vile and evil), but I feel that there should be more emphasis on the here and now. No one can change what has happened to people in the past in this country, but we have opportunities to change what can happen in the future. We have laws on the books in this country that have been passed by the House and Senate that would make those like Wilson proud of the effect that they are having on minorities and the generally disenfranchised of our nation. To me personally one of the greatest civil rights issues of the day is the fact that there are laws in this country that will allow law enforcement to just up and take your property from you without just cause, there is a law on the books here in NYC that allows the police to confiscate your personal property without due process. This might not seem to be a serious issue to many, but for minorities who work hard and follow the rules it seems that they may be denied the right to enjoy success that was so difficult to achieve by some police officer or DEA agent who decides to take their property or hit them with "cold consent" and legally steal their property. Like I said, while we cannot change what happened yesterday we CAN do something about today.
1
Those laws affect everyone. Not just people of color. I do agree they go way too far but not everything is a matter of race. If fact most all things are not. If you look at life through a racial prism then like the carpenter whose only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
1
Perhaps Princeton should follow the lead of the Frick museum in NY and have an exhibition that explains his murderous actions against labor unions in his pursuit of wealth.
8
Wilson, when compared to Theodore Roosevelt, another racist of the era, comes off badly. Roosevelt, after all, invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House in 1901, and as New York governor occasionally invited African Americans not only to dine with his family but to stay overnight in his home. We may honor Wilson's internationalism, his appointment of Louis Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme Court, and his advocacy of progressive legislation such as the income tax; but on race he absolutely led the nation in the wrong direction.
When it comes to "naming opportunities," we once identified public heroes; now it is mostly private donors. We generally assess the size of the donation, not the donor's personal political views. My own feeling is that Wilson's name might be kept on the school, or removed. Rhodes Scholarships, named for the racist capitalist Cecil Rhodes, contrary to the instructions of Rhodes himself, now include non-whites and non-Christians. No one is compelled to accept a Rhodes Scholarship or to attend Princeton or the Wilson School. If non-whites and like-minded whites boycott them they will suffer.
When it comes to "naming opportunities," we once identified public heroes; now it is mostly private donors. We generally assess the size of the donation, not the donor's personal political views. My own feeling is that Wilson's name might be kept on the school, or removed. Rhodes Scholarships, named for the racist capitalist Cecil Rhodes, contrary to the instructions of Rhodes himself, now include non-whites and non-Christians. No one is compelled to accept a Rhodes Scholarship or to attend Princeton or the Wilson School. If non-whites and like-minded whites boycott them they will suffer.
2
I was 30 years an alumnus before I knew the racist component of President Wilson's administration. I do think that Princeton's veneration should be considerably downsized. For example, there's very little reason why "Wilson College" should be named after him. However, I do not believe expunging his name entirely makes sense because the likely result would be that most future undergraduates would be oblivious to what can be learned from contemplating both the laudable and reprehensible history of this influential man.
I recommend leaving Wilson's name on the School of Public and International Affairs because he did exert some positive influence in that sphere. The school also could offer a useful source and focus on his entire history, the ugly as well as the good. There is value in recognizing that the celebrated among us nevertheless are humans who hardly ever merit being idolized. It would make sense to rename Wilson College and otherwise diminish his name and likeness on campus to an ordinary status for someone who was president of the college and governor of New Jersey as well as one of the nation's presidents.
I recommend leaving Wilson's name on the School of Public and International Affairs because he did exert some positive influence in that sphere. The school also could offer a useful source and focus on his entire history, the ugly as well as the good. There is value in recognizing that the celebrated among us nevertheless are humans who hardly ever merit being idolized. It would make sense to rename Wilson College and otherwise diminish his name and likeness on campus to an ordinary status for someone who was president of the college and governor of New Jersey as well as one of the nation's presidents.
Mr. Davis is correct in bringing Wilson down to earth. Acceptance of Wilson as a liberal divine is based on America's role as part of the Allied coalition and his proposed League of Nations. Domestically, he was much less "liberal" than his immediate Republican predecessors, TR and Taft.
That said, are all eminent Americans to be evaluated according to current beliefs and interpretations? This is anachronistic imposition of contemporary values on historical norms. In this context, Andrew Jackson was a racist, although in another context by threatening to sent federal troops to South Carolina to enforce US law, he could be considered a saviour of the Union. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were, among other things, slave owners. The "great liberal," Franklin Roosevelt, who implemented the New Deal, the "Welfare State" that has benefited millions of Americans, also failed to push integration, especially of the armed forces in their sacrifices to defeat the Axis powers. Harry Truman integrated the armed forces, although he also had referred to NYC as "Jew Town."
We don't know if Mr. Davis's grandfather was a "good man," but only that he lost his well-earned position due to racial discrimination. If evidence arose that in his personal life he was not a person to emulate, would his treatment be considered anything but bad?
The bottom line is whether or not a person should be evaluated on the basis of a single criterion; if so which one?
That said, are all eminent Americans to be evaluated according to current beliefs and interpretations? This is anachronistic imposition of contemporary values on historical norms. In this context, Andrew Jackson was a racist, although in another context by threatening to sent federal troops to South Carolina to enforce US law, he could be considered a saviour of the Union. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were, among other things, slave owners. The "great liberal," Franklin Roosevelt, who implemented the New Deal, the "Welfare State" that has benefited millions of Americans, also failed to push integration, especially of the armed forces in their sacrifices to defeat the Axis powers. Harry Truman integrated the armed forces, although he also had referred to NYC as "Jew Town."
We don't know if Mr. Davis's grandfather was a "good man," but only that he lost his well-earned position due to racial discrimination. If evidence arose that in his personal life he was not a person to emulate, would his treatment be considered anything but bad?
The bottom line is whether or not a person should be evaluated on the basis of a single criterion; if so which one?
2
So what should we do? Purge him from the history books for being racist? Let's purge everyone else from the eighteenth century forward who owned slaves or built and financed the ships that were used in the slave trade or prospered from the Triangle Trade or were born south of the Mason Dixon line and were therefore part of the Confederate States, Off with their historical heads! We will not tolerate any deviation from our current views and mores.
2
The notion that African Americans were mentally inferior was a way patronizing white justify and rationalize their venerated slave-owning ancestors. By making it appear that African Americans are responsible for their own misfortune is also a pernicious way to clear their consciences.
The problem is, it is all false. Europeans are not superior, and given the chance, African-Americans can be equally as smart as Europeans, of course. The goal of the European/white racist is to prove that is not true.
The problem is, it is all false. Europeans are not superior, and given the chance, African-Americans can be equally as smart as Europeans, of course. The goal of the European/white racist is to prove that is not true.
2
This story and others demonstrate that even by the standards of HIS time, Wilson's beliefs and practices were repulsive.
7
I didn't know this part of history, whatever you do with the name, make certain that ALL of Woodrow Wilson's history is included--it's there, it's fact, do not overlook it as has been done too long.
2
Let's not sacrifice America's history on the altar of today's political correctness. For those of us who are hellbent on doing just that I ask you where do you stop? How many of us living today are still guilty of the sins of our forefathers?
4
This part of Wilson's story was not known to me, and I am both horrified and saddened. The world Mr. Davis was succeeding in could have become more and more the norm, and as a nation we could have moved even further forward from that point; but what he did clearly legitimized the hateful opinions of what should have been a smaller and smaller minority of whites. These opinions found tragic voice in Charleston just this year. I am so sad for Mr. Davis. He believed in the America of our ideals.
8
This is a well written, welcomed and tragic piece. At the same time, expunging Wilson's name is the weaker move. Pointing out the flaws, horrific ones in this case seems to be a more productive course.
Perhaps a wealthy alum will donate funds to add another name to the school of policy so it can be called the Martin Luther King - Woodrow Wilson School? This would create a wonderful platform from which to educate students about history and policy.
Are activists approaching Princeton also calling for the expungement of Al Sharpton after he ruined professional careers of police officers through fabricated events? Other community leaders who have spewed virulent anti-semitism such as Wright and Farrakhan? Embezzlers such as Jackson [Jesse]?
I don't look up to many of the individuals listed here, but do learn from knowing about their dark sides.
Perhaps a wealthy alum will donate funds to add another name to the school of policy so it can be called the Martin Luther King - Woodrow Wilson School? This would create a wonderful platform from which to educate students about history and policy.
Are activists approaching Princeton also calling for the expungement of Al Sharpton after he ruined professional careers of police officers through fabricated events? Other community leaders who have spewed virulent anti-semitism such as Wright and Farrakhan? Embezzlers such as Jackson [Jesse]?
I don't look up to many of the individuals listed here, but do learn from knowing about their dark sides.
2
Sad story, but when will The Times address the other dimension of Princeton bigotry: sectarian triumphalism and exclusion. Princeton's other name, "Old Nassau," is a celebration of William of Orange-Nassau, Dutch conqueror of England and victor at Ireland's Battle of the Boyne, which sealed the fate of the Gaelic-speaking Irish Catholic peasantry and writ in stone the proto-Apartheid Penal Laws which oppressed the Irish. Princeton for its part, like its Ivy League brethren, virtually excluded Catholic immigrants and their children well into the 20th century. Even today this group is still under-represented there, while its historians, like James McPherson, write dubious unpleasant remarks about the history of these immigrants in America.
5
It would almost be embarrassingly hypocritical of Princeton to purge Wilson's name from its campus, for of all the Ivy League colleges, princeton uniquely embodied the Southern white plantation aristocracy outlook and ethos: for generations most of Princeton's students were from plantation families (and not in a way that would please civil rights activists), and Princeton's massive financial fortune is owed in substantial part to the institution's ties to slavery (all Ivies benefited massively from the "peculiar institution," though that's little discussed today- talk about "whitewashing"!). Wilson in every aspect could, historically speaking, be called the quintessential Princetonian. Yes deserves to be purged, but in a way that would serve to obscure that "Princeton is Princeton."
3
Wilson was a rascal. It is time to remove his name from any place of honor.
5
By self-segregating with raucous demands for all-black dorms and increased faculties numbers based solely on race, these particular black students are inadvertently following in step with Wilson's racist beliefs as well as George Wallace's. Separate, but equal, right? Oh, the irony.
2
George Washington was a slave owner, Lincoln suspended civil liberties, Teddy Roosevelt invaded Cuba, and FDR interned Japanese Americans. Are we supposed to blow up Mt. Rushmore?
4
The loss of my profession through the unjust actions of some Federal administrators and through the indifference of others just before my 47th birthday has been the greatest loss of my life.
I am currently in remission at the age of 72. I lost the ability to walk and soiled myself at night because of a tumor on my lower back. As grave as this physical set back was, my losing my profession was greater.
I now ride a bike, jog a mile each day and shoot lay ups and at both ends of the basketball court. But, the loss of my professional while it inured me to the discomforts of recovery still haunt me everyday. I know the pain of the author's grandfather.
I am currently in remission at the age of 72. I lost the ability to walk and soiled myself at night because of a tumor on my lower back. As grave as this physical set back was, my losing my profession was greater.
I now ride a bike, jog a mile each day and shoot lay ups and at both ends of the basketball court. But, the loss of my professional while it inured me to the discomforts of recovery still haunt me everyday. I know the pain of the author's grandfather.
1
Should we consider shutting down the University of Virginia because Jefferson was a slave owner? Where should the line be drawn? One of the points of studying history is to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Erasing the past because we do not like it or because it is uncomfortable has its own potentially dangerous consequences as well. Let this issue with President Wilson provide an opportunity for education and enlightened discussion which will be of benefit to society overall.
2
It sounds like bringing facts to light is just the opposite of "erasing the past".
Bringing previously unavailable facts into the present, uncomfortable or not, is part of the point of studying history isnt it? How can one have an enlightened discussion without adding the new information?
Bringing previously unavailable facts into the present, uncomfortable or not, is part of the point of studying history isnt it? How can one have an enlightened discussion without adding the new information?
3
Thank you for sharing the disturbing side of Wilson, and how it effected your family history. I can only imagine how damaging it was. The Civil Rights struggles of the 50's could have been less fraught if only Wilson's policies weren't put into place. Race relations in USA might have been in a much better place in the 21st century.
That being said, I think there are legitimate concerns that students at university are increasingly obsessed with political correctness and rigid black & white thinking. So much so that they demand moral purity from any historical figures who still receive accolades.
Maybe Princeton needs to take similar approach to China, where they were officially told that Mao was “70 percent good, 30 percent bad.”
That being said, I think there are legitimate concerns that students at university are increasingly obsessed with political correctness and rigid black & white thinking. So much so that they demand moral purity from any historical figures who still receive accolades.
Maybe Princeton needs to take similar approach to China, where they were officially told that Mao was “70 percent good, 30 percent bad.”
3
Blacks in America would be so much better off if they focused their efforts to better themselves rather than to bring down symbols of the past.
3
But they use this an their excuse all the time. If it's worked in the past why not continue using it in the present?
Nice tribute. We should not erase Wilson from history, but we should remember well people like the late Mr. Davis.
President Lincoln lived through a more difficult era yet he did not share Wilson's opinion of blacks.
5
Lincoln believed that white people were inherently superior to black people. He though a good move would be to move them all to Liberia. He was also a product of his time.
2
But Lincoln didn't demote and fire African Americans early in the 20th century after decades of progress. He didn't even do that in the 19th century. Lincoln, yes, not perfect, a product of his times, and not as noble as people make out. But, Wilson was a throwback, a vile throwback.
2
If we are going to judge our past presidents by today's conceptions of individual rights and personal liberty or by conventional standards of upright private conduct, very few would come through unscathed. Each was a reflection of the culture in which they lived and often shared its moral flaws even when they aspired to its moral improvement.
3
It is good to have this discussion about racism. Too few of us know that the man who fought for the League of Nations also set back racial progress in DC.
Racism still exists and it is much easier to recognize in the past than in ourselves . Politically Correct instant condemnation can also be a way to avoid dealing with it. Let's argue, expose, seek to understand why the "harmless" notions we breathed in as children and are not even aware of are part of the problem. May be taking Wilson's name off something is just a way to sweep the issue under the rug. Check out our prison system. Is every citizen equal under the law? Condemning past racism is easy enough. But not enough.
Racism still exists and it is much easier to recognize in the past than in ourselves . Politically Correct instant condemnation can also be a way to avoid dealing with it. Let's argue, expose, seek to understand why the "harmless" notions we breathed in as children and are not even aware of are part of the problem. May be taking Wilson's name off something is just a way to sweep the issue under the rug. Check out our prison system. Is every citizen equal under the law? Condemning past racism is easy enough. But not enough.
Looking at the many comments noting that everyone if flawed, all presidents had good points and bad points, and the like: while it would be convenient to overlook flaws and mistakes, Wilson acted willfully to reverse social progress to support his own hatreds. That was not a minor character flaw, and history should consider Wilson's acts and the impacts on the US in judging him.
To those who say removing his name would not solve any social problems of the current age: at the very least, it would be a warning to current politicians aspiring to greatness that their misdeeds will ultimately come back to haunt their legacy. That alone makes it worthwhile.
To those who say removing his name would not solve any social problems of the current age: at the very least, it would be a warning to current politicians aspiring to greatness that their misdeeds will ultimately come back to haunt their legacy. That alone makes it worthwhile.
2
Apologists for Wilson (and Washington, and Jefferson, etc.) have been saying that well, that's what was going around those days, they were just men of their times, etc., etc.
But this story shows that certainly in the case of Wilson, he did things that were malevolent and reprehensible as he was being a "man of his times". We may not have the smoking guns in the case of some of the earlier people but it's likely that they did things that were also reprehensible and malevolent.
This story makes it clear to me that the students who are calling Wilson's memorialization at Princeton have it right. More power to them.
But this story shows that certainly in the case of Wilson, he did things that were malevolent and reprehensible as he was being a "man of his times". We may not have the smoking guns in the case of some of the earlier people but it's likely that they did things that were also reprehensible and malevolent.
This story makes it clear to me that the students who are calling Wilson's memorialization at Princeton have it right. More power to them.
3
Maybe those protesting Princeton students should consider transferring to an established school without a racist history.
Perhaps Harvard? hmmmmmm.........no
How about Yale? uhhhhhhhh..........no
etc.
Perhaps Harvard? hmmmmmm.........no
How about Yale? uhhhhhhhh..........no
etc.
2
Studies show that the average assets of whites in America are 18 times those of blacks. The story Mr. Davis tells us about his grandfather gives us a very specific case in point for one of the factors shaping that gulf. It's a poignant lesson in the injustice decent people endured.
10
I would argue that erasing a legacy from public view is worse than confronting or exposing it. All of us will exit our lives with mixed legacies. The flaws in our character can be exposed for others to learn from, and the good that we do exposed for others to emulate.
Our great country has a dark history, starting with the genocide of the Native Americans, onto slavery, the discrimination of the Chines which led to outline of our current drug laws, the Irish were treated as indentured servants when they first arrived, the delay of Jewish European immigrants, Japanese internment camps, rampant racism and now the crisis of the Syrian refugees where even a measly reaching out in the form of 20,000 of which we may or may not accept, continues to today. If we go by what the GOP presidential candidates and the seemingly majority of Americans, we're doomed to repeat our history. I am no presidential historian but reading about Woodrow Wilson does make me sick to my stomach. I understand why students want his name removed but if he was so involved with Princeton, won't his name just be placed somewhere else? I don't know how to rectify this but I trust the people involved will do the right thing.
This is a story of a single person suffering injury 100 years ago that supports another look at one aspect of Wilson's make-up. Now what to do? Does taking his name off things make anyone better as opposed to just feeling better? These name-changing sentiments may be gratifying to a select few in college but will they be of any benefit to the worst victims of racism who suffer today? Ask the prison population or the poor single-parent population if removing Wilson's name from this and that strikes a blow for more equality.
1
Mr. Mullin the article takes pains to show this was not an isolated incident. But this story succeeds by informing people like you who did not know abt Wilsons legacy. Hopefully, the demographic shifts in our population will force America to see its "heroes" in a clearer light.
5
I am learning a great deal. I had NO idea that Wilson was a racist. Our history curriculum needs to reflect the broad truth and not the narrow idealistic versions that are so often taught in schools. In turn, we need to understand that imperfect people who may do horrible things on one hand are capable of doing great good in other areas. Let's accept the entire truth about our national leaders and heroes.
6
JFK and MLK were serial adulterers, TR was an imperialist, Jefferson,Washington, Madison and Monroe were slave owners, Jackson drove many Native Americans to their death, Lincoln freed the slaves but thought blacks inferior, Wilson was a racist. One could go on forever until no one met the measure of today's Moral Watchmen (whoops, I should say Watchpersons). None of us can feel assured that we will come up short when measured by the Moral Guardians (Wow, why did I not think of that earlier). Historical figures are not candidates for beatification and sainthood. They are mere mortals who played a major role, generally but not always to the good, in their times. That is why they are remembered not as moral exemplars, something that we can rest assured that few, if any, of us will be centuries from now.
5
Should we turn then in admiration to Harry Truman, who ended the segregation of the US military? Perhaps not. After all, he dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The search for moral leaders of nations is bound to be frustrating, especially when they area judged by later generations.
Statistics show that the average assets of whites in America are 18 times those of blacks. The story Mr. Davis tells us about his grandfather gives us a very specific case in point for one of the factors shaping that gulf. It's a poignant lesson in the injustice decent people endured.
6
This story breaks my heart. Thank you, Mr. Davis, for putting a face on almost-forgotten history.
6
Those who admire Woodrow Wilson celebrate his legacy most in the area of foreign affairs. They esteem his justification for US participation in World War I and in bringing an allegedly idealistic voice to the Versailles Peace Conference. But his record in foreign affairs is far from unblemished, especially concerning Mexico. When the Mexican government failed to add a 21 gun salute to their apology for arresting some US sailors, he used the incident as a pretext to authorize an invasion and occupation of the Mexican city of Veracruz for more than a year at the cost of more than 100 Mexican lives. He also authorized the US military invasion of Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa, whom the US had been actively opposing in the Mexican Civil War at the time. Villa had carried out executions of US citizens in Mexico and raided across the border into New Mexico. But even Wilson's erstwhile allies in the Mexican government regarded the US incursion as an invasion and mobilized troops to oppose it. More than 250 Mexicans lost their lives in this expedition. Princeton University is an international center for elite scholarship. Surely there are some Mexican and Mexican-American students and scholars who today call the place home. I hope they contribute their voices to those of the African-American students and add to the much deserved deflation of Wilson's reputation at Princeton and everywhere else.
1
The United States supported Pancho Villa during the first stage of the Revolution, supplying him with arms and ammunition. However, the United States backed Villa's opponents during the stage of the revolution called the "War of the Winners." After Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, the Mexican government welcomed the Punitive Expedition because it thought U.S. forces would put an end to Villa's influence in Northern Mexico, which was already on the wan. Instead, Mexicans resented the presence of U.S. troops, and Villa enjoyed a brief resurgence in popular support as a result. Having invited the U.S. forces into Mexico, the Mexican government asked them to leave as public sentiment shifted.
Thank you for your article. Unkindness prevails. Many of the travesties are committed by good Christian folk. The hatred of people by people is sickening. The atrocities committed stagger my imagination. Never ending racism, anti-Semitism, unwillingness to respect others is prevalent. I am embarrassed by the news. I hope Princeton hears the plea of its students regarding Wilson.
1
Not sure why my previous comment was not published by I find it hard to believe that Woodrow Wilson's "purge" would have taken place less than 5 weeks after he was sworn in as President in March 1913. Follow the internal timeline in the column, people. This is precisely why anecdotes are not substitutes for analysis.
2
David,
Why the timeline scepticism? Five weeks is too soon? What is the proper amount of time for an avowed racist to promulgate these sorts of policies?
Why the timeline scepticism? Five weeks is too soon? What is the proper amount of time for an avowed racist to promulgate these sorts of policies?
2
Why is it hard to believe that this was one of the first things he did as president? Government jobs/patronage is one of the first things Presidents deal with, to pay back supporters, if nothing else. His move to segregate the civil service would allow him to pay back his white racist supporters, who would have wanted those positions for themselves, and would not have wanted to work with a black person as a colleague or superior.
4
Imagine where this country would be today had Woodrow Wilson not made it official policy to demote, degrade and deny promising futures of hardworking citizens like John Abraham Davis.
8
Wilson's racism also led him to celebrate D.W. Griffith's vile film rewriting history in "Birth of a Nation," which provided impetus for the spread of the KKK in the '20s as well as Jim Crow. Less well known is his shunning of the "colored" Japanese during peace talks after the First World War, which helped convince them that America was an untrustworthy potential enemy. There's an account of this in Margaret Macmillan's "1919" account of the peace talks and their fallout. Since learning of these and other instances, I've been highly skeptical about Wilson's "progressive" reputation. Princeton's reappraisal is overdue.
7
That's a claim too far for me.
MacMillan in the Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2014:
"...In the Far East, nationalists in Japan, which had been on the Allied side, felt their country had been used and then contemptuously scorned by the "white" powers who refused to write a clause on racial equality into the Covenant of the League of Nations. That helped to propel Japan down the road of militarism and imperialism, and eventually to confrontation with the U.S. at Pearl Harbor...."
In "Paris 1919" (Random House, 2002) she makes clear that most of the scorn came from Wilson.
"...In the Far East, nationalists in Japan, which had been on the Allied side, felt their country had been used and then contemptuously scorned by the "white" powers who refused to write a clause on racial equality into the Covenant of the League of Nations. That helped to propel Japan down the road of militarism and imperialism, and eventually to confrontation with the U.S. at Pearl Harbor...."
In "Paris 1919" (Random House, 2002) she makes clear that most of the scorn came from Wilson.
4
This may serve as a warning sign of the backward steps that can happen as a result of elections. Apparently, decades of gains in rights were wiped out in short order. Let's make sure history does not repeat itself.
5
One difference in Wilson vs. MLK and JFK is that with the latter two, their philandering has been recognized and "accepted" as part of the mainstream discussion of who they were and of their legacy. Surely few would claim not to be familiar with the existence of such stories.
Wilson's blatant racism and destruction of countless black lives, however, has been very much kept under the covers. It may not have been "hidden," but it certainly does not seem to have been a common or regular part of who he was and what he did, not just for, but to America (in terms of purposefully taking it backwards on race relations).
For Princeton students to draw attention to the disgraceful parts of his legacy (which are quite different from warts like individual philandering) is a service to all of America, to, with open eyes, recognize who and what Woodrow Wilson was. It has certainly added a big new (unfortunately exceedingly negative) dimension to my understanding.
Wilson's blatant racism and destruction of countless black lives, however, has been very much kept under the covers. It may not have been "hidden," but it certainly does not seem to have been a common or regular part of who he was and what he did, not just for, but to America (in terms of purposefully taking it backwards on race relations).
For Princeton students to draw attention to the disgraceful parts of his legacy (which are quite different from warts like individual philandering) is a service to all of America, to, with open eyes, recognize who and what Woodrow Wilson was. It has certainly added a big new (unfortunately exceedingly negative) dimension to my understanding.
6
This is a sad story of a talented black man being victimized by President Wilson and his government. But the presidents succeeding Wilson up to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.Johnson pretty much ignored the fight for racial justice, which we now realize must be fought anew in each generation.
Whether Princeton University should seek to dishonor Wilson is a different question. He was not only one of the four or five most important presidents in our history, he was the most innovative and consequential president of Princeton University in the twentieth century.
In any event, the students should have a small part in making a decision. They normally attend the University for only four years. It should mainly be up to the faculty, the trustees, and the alumni.
Whether Princeton University should seek to dishonor Wilson is a different question. He was not only one of the four or five most important presidents in our history, he was the most innovative and consequential president of Princeton University in the twentieth century.
In any event, the students should have a small part in making a decision. They normally attend the University for only four years. It should mainly be up to the faculty, the trustees, and the alumni.
2
Some presidents that followed Wilson may have igorned the fight for racial racial justice and that is also a stain on their legacies. Wilson, on the other hand, actively and with malice injured and turned back progress that is still being felt today.
3
Honest discussions of American history-good. Seemingly endless rants of victim-mongering-bad. Every past American leader can be taken to task when judged against 2015 ethical and legal standards.
The Kennedy Scool of Government at Harvard? Well, JFK refused to defend the Freedom Riders to preserve his alliance with Southern democrats. Let's change the name to the next President. Wait, Nixon was an outspoken racist; we can't even list the quotes here without suitable "trigger warnings." Let's move on to the innocuous Gerald Ford- sorry; he was an outspoken opponent of school busing and hence a foe of integration.
The problem with the Princeton protest about Woodrow Wilson is that it is just the latest in an endless stream of complaints by a perpetually aggrieved victim class. Why don't these whiners actually accomplish something- then we can name a building after them.
The Kennedy Scool of Government at Harvard? Well, JFK refused to defend the Freedom Riders to preserve his alliance with Southern democrats. Let's change the name to the next President. Wait, Nixon was an outspoken racist; we can't even list the quotes here without suitable "trigger warnings." Let's move on to the innocuous Gerald Ford- sorry; he was an outspoken opponent of school busing and hence a foe of integration.
The problem with the Princeton protest about Woodrow Wilson is that it is just the latest in an endless stream of complaints by a perpetually aggrieved victim class. Why don't these whiners actually accomplish something- then we can name a building after them.
4
We have accomplished quite a bit. And buildings are named after us.
1
True justice, as if that even exists, is hard to find in the United States. First of all it takes money to get it and secondly it takes money to deny it. Right now, the deniers are far out spending those who seek and deserve justice. But justice will win out, it's only a question of money, time and endured suffering.
1
If we go where Mr. Davis might have us go we'd change the names of any building, college, street, etc. that bears the names of our slave-holding founding fathers starting with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe. And, we extoll that whoring, murdering, sleazy guy who is on the $20 bill.
My own great grandfather, a Baptist preacher, railed against Italians at the turn of the 20th Century, like Trump does with Latinos. Earl Warren sent Japanese Americans to concentration camps.
As a white man with a ancestor who wore gray and one who wore blue, I cannot condone what we have done to African Americans, native Indians, or Chinese, or Japanese.
We did it, we should be ashamed, but we cannot change history. Most of those of eminence, also did some good. We must be aware of the good and the bad.
My own great grandfather, a Baptist preacher, railed against Italians at the turn of the 20th Century, like Trump does with Latinos. Earl Warren sent Japanese Americans to concentration camps.
As a white man with a ancestor who wore gray and one who wore blue, I cannot condone what we have done to African Americans, native Indians, or Chinese, or Japanese.
We did it, we should be ashamed, but we cannot change history. Most of those of eminence, also did some good. We must be aware of the good and the bad.
1
Why not keep Wilson's name but add to it that of an African-American who worked in the federal government but was stripped of his duties by Wilson's policies (for example, Mr. Davis' grandfather). Wilson's achievements would still be honored while we would all be reminded of the opportunities of which he deprived others. What might Mr. Davis have achieved in public policy given the opportunity?
1
PS Gotta love the poetic justice of attaching an African-American to Wilson in this way. Wilson of today would have been cool with that, right?
1
I am very appreciative of this column and for Mr. Davis's work to correct the record on President Wilson. I'm embarrassed to say that I have only known Wilson as the progressive president in the international arena and as the political scientist who influenced so much of what I studied and "learned" as both an undergraduate and graduate student in international relations and in political since. How have I taught about the civil service and its reform without knowing these facts? Looks like I--and all of us--have some work to do.
4
I knew about Wilson's racism. However, if Princeton were to make the symbolic gesture of removing his name from its buildings, where do we stop? Presidents Washington and Jefferson were slave-owners. Jackson practiced ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. McKinley presided over atrocities in the Philippines. Teddy Roosevelt believed in not just white, but Anglo-Saxon racial superiority. I believe we should teach the ugly parts of our national history and try to learn from them, but if we purge everyone who fails our 21st century morality tests, who would be left? Who, of us today, would pass a 22nd century morality test? Besides you and me, of course!
"Confront" Wilson's racism? Absolutely! After the students at Princeton have done so, they can confront the misogyny and homophobia in today's African American culture.
"Confront" Wilson's racism? Absolutely! After the students at Princeton have done so, they can confront the misogyny and homophobia in today's African American culture.
4
Thank you for explaining this. All I'd heard of the protests is that it was against Wilson but without any explanation as to why. The story of your grandfather has swayed my opinion in favor of the protesters. Well done, counselor.
8
Wilson also jailed his political opponent, Eugene Debs. Freedom of speech? Who needs it? Use the 'Espionage Act' to suppress it.
7
Remember, too, the Palmer raids.
3
The should rename it Richard Henry Green , the first black to graduate from Yale.
Wilson's past racist actions should not be forgotten.
Wilson's past racist actions should not be forgotten.
2
Misrepresenting and covering up past wrongs is not a way to "move on." We have proven that for over a century now. We should make a conscious effort to stop whitewashing racism, past and present. And yes, I chose that word deliberately.
5
Who is covering things up? If these students feel so strongly about this supposed racist college perhaps they should transfer their credits to another institution of higher learning. Let's get rid of everything that might offend every ethnic group on the planet. Grow up.
3
Martin B. Duberman, in his 1963 play "In White America," dramatized Woodrow Wilson's establishment of apartheid in the American government In his review, Howard Taubman wrote, "It will come as a shock to hear that Woodrow Wilson defended the segregation of Government clerks . . ."
The review appeared in the Times on November 1, 1963.
http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/11/01/89969725.html?pa...
At least two generations have passed, more years than those between Wilson's taking office and the opening night of "In White America," at the height of the 60's civil rights movement and weeks before the assassination of John Kennedy. (I saw the play as a teenager and had an LP of the production.) This should be kept in mind to help understand the anger of Afro-American college students today.
The review appeared in the Times on November 1, 1963.
http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/11/01/89969725.html?pa...
At least two generations have passed, more years than those between Wilson's taking office and the opening night of "In White America," at the height of the 60's civil rights movement and weeks before the assassination of John Kennedy. (I saw the play as a teenager and had an LP of the production.) This should be kept in mind to help understand the anger of Afro-American college students today.
5
Well I never knew this about Woody Wilson. But almost every white politician like every white male was and still is a racist. Try being a woman of any color and getting equal pay for equal work. Or even getting a job. I went thru that from 1970 on. We need to acknowledge that our leaders were (and most still are) racists ) but if we take their names off of everything, then does that correct the wrongs they did?? Look at the old racist Strom Thurmond who had a black child. Tell everyone about racism and sexism, but leave the names of leaders who excelled in other areas as Wilson did where the names have been for decades. BTW, LBJ used the N word many times to his family and to the federal judge whom I clerked for. So much for LBJ being piro civil rights. He rode that to becoming VP but we got rid of him in our marches against his war in vietnam
That's kind of silly. It's well known that LBJ was foul-mouthed. And that meant nothing compared to his saying "We shall overcome," and passing and signing amazing (for the time) civil rights legislation. Whereas I am sure that many of the governors trying to make it hard for blacks to vote are completely innocuous in their language. Which hardly means that they are piro civil rights.
1
I am considered to be an educated person by those who know me, but somehow it is only now in my seventies do I learn that Woodrow Wilson was a racist. Why didn't I know this until now? Taking his name off buildings is appropriate, but the proper teaching of history must be mandated.
5
"Why didn't I know this until now?"
Odds are, you are not African-American. The people Wilson hurt have always known about it. As this tragic tale shows.
To learn more "forbidden" American history, I suggest William Manchester's book The Glory and the Dream.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
Odds are, you are not African-American. The people Wilson hurt have always known about it. As this tragic tale shows.
To learn more "forbidden" American history, I suggest William Manchester's book The Glory and the Dream.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
Don't forget to take down the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln did not want integration and wanted to reserve one state, his choice was GA, to give to slaves so they could be separate from the white states. All white leaders except Clinton were and are racists. Clinton took home black kids in his classes when he was in grades 1-12, long before he was a politician.
3
This W Wilson brohahua sounds to me like a pick-and-choose type of selective rage.
Are we going to diminish the figure of MLK and his historical achievement because the guy was a cheat and a womanizer? Or FDR for his anti Semitic views? Do we know how many of all great men that built this, the greatest most prosperous nation in history had racists, antisemitic, machista views? Are we going to undo all that because some people, in modern times, are "hurt"?
Of all this stupidity the two I found the worst are the ranting against Christopher Colombus and Thomas Jefferson. The former is recognized as the secon most tracendental person in history, only after Gutenberg, inventor of the press for finding a large unknown continent and completing the world (even if CC didn't know it himself) and Jefferson for being the thinking mind (along with others) in the formation of this new country.
So the NYT brings one story, one anecdote and use it as counteragument against a whole pile of merits of one of its most important historical figures.
It's perplexing how these elite schools, supposedly the top of the tops, the responsible ones for educating the "greatest and smartest" minds on the planet can succumb so easily to these bullies and intimidation from a few. Ridiculous.
Are we going to diminish the figure of MLK and his historical achievement because the guy was a cheat and a womanizer? Or FDR for his anti Semitic views? Do we know how many of all great men that built this, the greatest most prosperous nation in history had racists, antisemitic, machista views? Are we going to undo all that because some people, in modern times, are "hurt"?
Of all this stupidity the two I found the worst are the ranting against Christopher Colombus and Thomas Jefferson. The former is recognized as the secon most tracendental person in history, only after Gutenberg, inventor of the press for finding a large unknown continent and completing the world (even if CC didn't know it himself) and Jefferson for being the thinking mind (along with others) in the formation of this new country.
So the NYT brings one story, one anecdote and use it as counteragument against a whole pile of merits of one of its most important historical figures.
It's perplexing how these elite schools, supposedly the top of the tops, the responsible ones for educating the "greatest and smartest" minds on the planet can succumb so easily to these bullies and intimidation from a few. Ridiculous.
3
Columbus is these one most transcendental person in history? Really?
One of the great and lasting legacies of racism is the damage done to capable and ambitious black men who for many generations were simply not allowed to succeed. I have to wonder how that denial of legitimate personal achievement has contributed to the social pathologies evident in some black communities today.
3
I say that we erase him from the history books! I am feeling uncomfortable with you even discussing this racist history!
The New York Times should be my new safe space
The New York Times should be my new safe space
3
Substitute African-American with Jewish in this article, and I'll bet some of the "What's the big deal" commentators would have a different opinion. I found Davis's essay painful, moving and convincing.
10
its good to sometimes put a human face on history that can seem so impersonal and far away to most people in the present. Kudos to Mr. Davis for accomplishing this.
5
But Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat who is constantly cited as a shining example of a progressive President. It is about time Democrats are facing their racist legacy. While one can point to Republicans as having assumed the racist mantle (as Democrats inevitably will), it is about time the Democrats started talking about the extreme racism in their closet, from Wilson to FDR (the Japanese internment doesn't sound much different than what Donald Trump proposes for Muslims in America) to Robert Byrd (the Democrats' majority leader and former member of the KKK), and many southern Senators and Congressmen in between.
2
At least Robert Byrd had the strength to later disavow his earlier KKK membership and say that it was the worst thing that he had ever done.
And Democrats as a group now reject their party's earlier racist leanings. Yet today's Republican party attracts and even supports such odious individuals as Trump. Tony, how do you explain that?
And Democrats as a group now reject their party's earlier racist leanings. Yet today's Republican party attracts and even supports such odious individuals as Trump. Tony, how do you explain that?
1
Wilson's legacy of racism is alive and well. Just listen to Donald Trump and his supporters who cheer his hate-filled, racist, epithet-laden rhetoric.
5
I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this article really is. Obviously we have another voice suggesting that Woodrow Wilson's legacy should be buried because he was such a bad man.
But there's a deeper truth to unearth. According to the link the author uses to cite Wilson's sin, "the enactment of this [segregation] policy, based on Progressives' demands for whiteness in government, imposed a color line on American opportunity and implicated Washington in the economic limitation of African Americans for decades to come."
So 100 years ago, progressives were clamoring for racial segregation in government, whereas today we have progressives on campus clamoring against free speech. Why should we listen to them? Why should we let them violates others' rights again given the sordid history the author cites?
Woodrow Wilson was a product of his time, nothing more. We make peace with that time by striving to overcome its shortcomings, not by effectively burning its figures in effigy, and certainly not by blatantly seeking to repeat its mistakes.
But there's a deeper truth to unearth. According to the link the author uses to cite Wilson's sin, "the enactment of this [segregation] policy, based on Progressives' demands for whiteness in government, imposed a color line on American opportunity and implicated Washington in the economic limitation of African Americans for decades to come."
So 100 years ago, progressives were clamoring for racial segregation in government, whereas today we have progressives on campus clamoring against free speech. Why should we listen to them? Why should we let them violates others' rights again given the sordid history the author cites?
Woodrow Wilson was a product of his time, nothing more. We make peace with that time by striving to overcome its shortcomings, not by effectively burning its figures in effigy, and certainly not by blatantly seeking to repeat its mistakes.
2
I personally do not care what time period Wilson served as President. That does not excuse his actions. He had a responsibility as President of the United States to represent all citizens, instead he chose to ruin countless lives because he was a bigot. That is no small thing and should not be whitewashed to make some members of the majority feel comfortable.
I saw someone make the comparison that Dr. King also was a flawed man. How odious! Dr. King did not affect the lives of millions negatively through public policy as Wilson obviously did.
I saw someone make the comparison that Dr. King also was a flawed man. How odious! Dr. King did not affect the lives of millions negatively through public policy as Wilson obviously did.
7
Mr. Davis
When I was growing up in California during the '50s President Wilson and President Franklin Roosevelt were the "Icons of the Liberals". It was dificult to understand why.
Wilson in addition to being an avowed racist engaged in the active persecution of those who opposed war on religious grounds during WW1 and at the end of the war left us with the mess that became WW2 as well as The beginnings of today's Middle East problems.
F.D.R. Was guilty of snubbing 1936 Olympic Gold Medal Winner Jessie Owens and all the other Black Olympic Medalists after the games in Berlin. F.D.R. also not only failed to support anti-lynching legislation but nominated Hugo Black a former K.K.K. Member to the Supreme Court. F.D.R.s treatment of refugees from the war in Europe is well known as is his infamous Executive Order 9066 that interned Americans and immigrants of Japanese descent.
Under F.D.R. The Nation and its military remained segregated as well! Though these decisions by F.D.R. Seem to have been based on politics more than personal belief.
Even when judged by the "standards" of the day all of the actions seem harsh for avowed "Progressives" and most were controversial in their day as well!
When I was growing up in California during the '50s President Wilson and President Franklin Roosevelt were the "Icons of the Liberals". It was dificult to understand why.
Wilson in addition to being an avowed racist engaged in the active persecution of those who opposed war on religious grounds during WW1 and at the end of the war left us with the mess that became WW2 as well as The beginnings of today's Middle East problems.
F.D.R. Was guilty of snubbing 1936 Olympic Gold Medal Winner Jessie Owens and all the other Black Olympic Medalists after the games in Berlin. F.D.R. also not only failed to support anti-lynching legislation but nominated Hugo Black a former K.K.K. Member to the Supreme Court. F.D.R.s treatment of refugees from the war in Europe is well known as is his infamous Executive Order 9066 that interned Americans and immigrants of Japanese descent.
Under F.D.R. The Nation and its military remained segregated as well! Though these decisions by F.D.R. Seem to have been based on politics more than personal belief.
Even when judged by the "standards" of the day all of the actions seem harsh for avowed "Progressives" and most were controversial in their day as well!
5
I attended Princeton and revere it as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the world. My wife and daughter both graduated with degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School there. What Princeton decides about various commemorations of Wilson, now that it has finally committed to examine his legacy with respect to race, will likely be well considered. But certainly his actions as president with regard to racial segregation are deeply reprehensible and go far beyond the casual prejudices of a different era. They were gratuitously, methodically damaging to racial relations and - as the recollection of Mr Davis so eloquently points out - destructive of myriad lives of striving Americans - during a period that otherwise held out the promise of much improved conditions at the turn of the century. At the least, such despicable legacy should be clearly documented and made public in conjunction with more positive assessments of his role as educator and president. Americans often berate China for not allowing frank assessments of former political leaders - let us show that we can re-judge our own former leaders, not by erasing historical facts or hypocritically and glibly applying present fashion to a former culture, but by judging them by the enlightened values of their own time, when their concerted and fully considered actions so far departed from those values.
3
Okay. Rename it. I do not care. I want the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes to come forth and apologize for the brutal 3 centuries of Viking raids (murder, pillage, rape) they inflicted on my ancestors in Normandy. This is ridiculous.
4
Woodrow Wilson can be lauded for his efforts to foster international organizations and world peace. Thus the naming of the policy school. But he rightfully deserves to have his record as a racist exposed, discussed and understood. In this regard this current protest is both timely and very important. The lesson is that historical figures ( and humans) are flawed and must be judged honestly. The solution is to teach both what Wilson really was but also to celebrate (with realism) what he Tried to be. Keep his name on the school. But be sure everyone who walks through the doors learns the full story.
5
looking back, theres plenty to ponder upon, how things were, from personal perspectives, to our idealist dreams and so forth. history is rife with inequalities, and america (in concept at least) claims some special ability to transcend this by legislating, enacting edicts, and other human directed changes in behaviors, yet the history remains as such. one thing for certain is that people will always be of various beliefs, racial/cultural mixes, and ever attempting to find themselves as unique enough to proceed forward in life despite differences/hurdles of any kind. heal thyself before harming others in attempts to pacify one's own injurys. until some great threat begins to emergel, most will persist in the random disruption of life around, at least until some realize the threat is large enough to force a regroup, a 'circle of the wagons' so to speak to defend against. real damage may be the only thing that causes real change to occur.
2
Speaking as one who grew up in NW Louisiana in the 50s I remember the inbred lies we fed ourselves to support our perversion called "segregation". The moment I was presented a different view of this world I was easily convinced of its distortion of humanity. Wilson (along with G. Washington and T. Jefferson) carry an ugly blot on their character with their racist views and behavior. Their cowardice and/or blindness greatly supported much evil in this area of mistreatment of fellow man. Think of all the sorrow they could have prevented!!
4
America is a nation of ideals and of reality. The ideals are lofty and have served the nation well in its history. Some ideals have taken longer than we would like to live up to, but over time, the nation has had leaders and people who put us on the right track. However, the myths deserve to be exposed, as uncomfortable as this makes us. Custer was no hero. He was a slaughterer of native-Americans and does not deserve to be venerated.
So too, Wilson, who was the political father of progressivism, brought with him the repulsive policies of racism. He preached the doctrine of white supremacy, lauded the KKK, told people that Birth of a Nation deserved to be seen by every American, as it was a great story.
His veneration on the Princeton campus is an insult to black Americans and white Americans alike who believe that racism is an evil that corrodes our loftiest ideals. There is no "other side" to this story. Wilson will not be erased from history. He will be seen as he was--a president who did great things and terrible things as well. The dark side of his legacy deserves to be known and recognized and not buried by the good.
So too, Wilson, who was the political father of progressivism, brought with him the repulsive policies of racism. He preached the doctrine of white supremacy, lauded the KKK, told people that Birth of a Nation deserved to be seen by every American, as it was a great story.
His veneration on the Princeton campus is an insult to black Americans and white Americans alike who believe that racism is an evil that corrodes our loftiest ideals. There is no "other side" to this story. Wilson will not be erased from history. He will be seen as he was--a president who did great things and terrible things as well. The dark side of his legacy deserves to be known and recognized and not buried by the good.
5
When I first learned of the protests at Princeton, my immediate reaction was one of "here we go again", another super-politically correct movement to "clean up" our history. But, as I came to learn of Wilson's actions, it became clear that this is not a case of a man who, because of the mores of "his time", in the company of similar men at his private club or at the golf course, uttered a racial epithet, or did not believe in racial equality. To the contrary, this is a man who actively targeted blacks and acted to harm them. Not every act that we would today consider bigoted is a reason to remove honors bestowed long ago. However, a powerful man who used his power to deliberately harm black citizens deserves little respect, particularly at a preeminent university. I agree with the Princeton students. His name should be removed from Princeton's facilities.
10
The author accepts that the racial problems of the time were not unique to Wilson, but fails to place his presidency within a larger context. First of all, Wilson was a Southerner, elected by the people, and his views reflect theirs. More importantly, progress is not a steady march in one direction and there will be many unfortunate reversions as people push back against change. Wilson, it seems, was an agent of that, but pretending he was this solitary pivotal racist actor undermines the country’s long history of racial problems.
2
Ok, how many generations back are we going to do with this? The writer didn't even KNOW his grandfather........why are today's whites responsible for what whites did centuries ago? enough is enough...it's 2015, lets live in it
3
"why are today's whites responsible for what whites did centuries ago?"
Barb, why are you taking this so personally? You aren't Woodrow Wilson.
Barb, why are you taking this so personally? You aren't Woodrow Wilson.
4
Mr Davis. Thank you so much for this personal story. As difficult as it may be for many Americans, it is very important to face the sins of the past. To acknowledge the facts and, as in the Princeton case, to make symbolic changes. While it appears that an entire can of worms has been opened, I say "so what?" Let's have dialogue about uncomfortable topics. I'm still waiting for some profound recognition of the ethnic cleansing of our Native Americans during most of the 19th century. It's very healthy for our future generations to be aware, to learn, and to not repeat.
3
Proof once again that there will be historical payback for the evils done now -- including an everlasting stain on Democrats who voted for DOMA in 1996, and now have the temerity to ask the people whose lives they ruined for money to get them re-elected. That means you, Patrick Leahy.
1
In the postwar period, Jefferson, Jackson and Wilson were icons, not based on who they actually were, and what their genuine contributions and faults were, but because they created the illusion of a continuous 'progressive' tradition while progressivism was moving us away from our founding principles.
Now these same people are being treated as devils, as the New Left has evolved and our past and traditions are being considered as just so much garbage and evil.
But the past is complicated. We conservatives have grown to appreciate Jefferson's embrace of Federalist ideas and Wisonianism, that did so much to create the horrors of the last century, was very effective in undermining communism in Europe. Who knows, may Jackson someday will have been found to have had a positive influence as president
Meanwhile, for us, TR's stock has gone way down, and Eisenhower's has risen somewhat. Perhaps in the future the three presidents who preceded Reagan will no longer be considered a national calamity. Anything is possible.
Let the dead bury their dead, as the good book says. One of the hardest things for individuals to do is to realize their parents were also conscious human beings with free will and complicated human attributes. Perhaps we should look harder for the beam in our own eye, and waste less spirit in searching out the motes that came before us.
Now these same people are being treated as devils, as the New Left has evolved and our past and traditions are being considered as just so much garbage and evil.
But the past is complicated. We conservatives have grown to appreciate Jefferson's embrace of Federalist ideas and Wisonianism, that did so much to create the horrors of the last century, was very effective in undermining communism in Europe. Who knows, may Jackson someday will have been found to have had a positive influence as president
Meanwhile, for us, TR's stock has gone way down, and Eisenhower's has risen somewhat. Perhaps in the future the three presidents who preceded Reagan will no longer be considered a national calamity. Anything is possible.
Let the dead bury their dead, as the good book says. One of the hardest things for individuals to do is to realize their parents were also conscious human beings with free will and complicated human attributes. Perhaps we should look harder for the beam in our own eye, and waste less spirit in searching out the motes that came before us.
2
Strong, convincing argument that I had no idea of until yesterday's news...Just like banning the confederate flag on public buildings, we must take our symbols seriously...Wilson's apparent history was not just privately held views...This is a good teaching moment regarding how we want to proceed...
5
I see the cultural purge coming...................
Who will not be affected...................
Who will not be affected...................
2
If you look back, you see the cultural purge of black folks from their jobs in civil service. I think you'll be all right, Dave.
5
Everyone, including the Left. Given MLK's homophobic views, his statue on the Washington mall might also have to be "reconsidered" one day soon.
2
Let's protest it now, considering the changing tide where gay rights is concerned. Where do you end it? Remove everything that might offend someone? It's the world gone mad.
1
Thank you for your insight. I was not aware of President Wilson's racism & feelings of white supremacy. As an American Jew, I can certainly relate to this experience, having listened to stories of religious persecution that my relatives endured. We must right the wrongs of previous generations.
2
Revisionist history is definitely problematic: we need our heroes and heroines though they be less-than-perfect (they are human, after all). We can honor the effort they made despite results that were not ideal from all times or perspectives. Even this inquisition of a revered historical figure has value if it airs old grievances and advances the wisdom of the American people.
Old sensibility: history is a record of conflict and the struggle to survive and thrive; it is typically divided into "winners" and "losers". There is scarcity and we must fight for it.
New sensibility: we are all "in this together"; each individual and group has value and something to offer. There is abundance for all if we recognize it.
Old sensibility: history is a record of conflict and the struggle to survive and thrive; it is typically divided into "winners" and "losers". There is scarcity and we must fight for it.
New sensibility: we are all "in this together"; each individual and group has value and something to offer. There is abundance for all if we recognize it.
2
It is wrong to reject the contributions of a man whose racism is merely a product of time and place. But that excuse does not apply to Wilson. A Southerner who came North and spent much of his adult life in the culture of the North who nonetheless practiced segregation has made a knowing choice and the wrong choice and has harmed too many people. I had always thought that Wilson was from New Jersey and was surprised by his racist record. Now that I know the story, it does great harm to his place in history.
1
Joyce Carol Oates portrays a racist and profoundly neurotic Wilson in her novel "The Accursed." In the novel, at the beginning of speeches, Wilson, as college president, does imitations of black people as jokes to loosen up his audience of influential people. It's alarming. So is the rest of the book, vis-à-vis America's questionable moral history. The setting is 1905-06 Princeton, NJ.
2
It's unjust and simply horrible, but as many others have written in response, almost all of our previous leaders had such views.
In 2015 alone, it looks like we're dumping Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson overboard. By the standards used in rejecting them, one must also include all Virginia-born US presidents, as they were slaveholders. How far does this go? To include George Patton, as his ancestors fought for the Confederacy?
In 2015 alone, it looks like we're dumping Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson overboard. By the standards used in rejecting them, one must also include all Virginia-born US presidents, as they were slaveholders. How far does this go? To include George Patton, as his ancestors fought for the Confederacy?
1
It's all a matter of perspective, and degree. If Wilson segregated departments of government after Teddy Roosevelt integrated them, it is despicable and should be discussed. During WWII FDR put Japanese-Americans in concentration camps, but Italian and German-Americans were untouched. Richard Nixon made racial slurs (in private) but certainly didn't try to reverse civil rights. Ronald Reagan began his 1980 campaign in Neshoba County, Miss (symbol of racial oppression) talking about states rights, deliberately appealing to white racist voters. And today we have Trump appealing to anti-black, anti-Latino, and anti-Muslim whites across America.
1
Thank you for sharing your family story, Mr. Davis.
I found it interesting that you did not comment upon the students' demands to remove Wilson's name, because my take on the situation is that there's a fundamental problem of an unwillingness to consider the complexities and flaws of our venerated historical figures that's being obfuscated by people on either extreme side of the debate. There is no point in tearing down a legacy simply because it wasn't perfect - nobody is perfect, we would be left with countless nameless buildings. But there's also no point in ignoring the imperfections behind that same legacy.
Likewise, I thought it was important that you brought your grandfather's story to the forefront rather than concentrating on condemning Wilson wholesale. To me, an more important issue is: why is it that these stories go unheard? For example, as an Asian-American, it perturbed me to discover in my college years that there have been several massacres of Asians and Asian-Americans in US history that apparently are not notable enough to make it into mainstream high school history books. By bringing these stories and histories to light, we can empower those who have gone unheard for decades and centuries. And the elevation of those unheard, to me, is more construction than the devaluation of those who already have their spotlight.
I found it interesting that you did not comment upon the students' demands to remove Wilson's name, because my take on the situation is that there's a fundamental problem of an unwillingness to consider the complexities and flaws of our venerated historical figures that's being obfuscated by people on either extreme side of the debate. There is no point in tearing down a legacy simply because it wasn't perfect - nobody is perfect, we would be left with countless nameless buildings. But there's also no point in ignoring the imperfections behind that same legacy.
Likewise, I thought it was important that you brought your grandfather's story to the forefront rather than concentrating on condemning Wilson wholesale. To me, an more important issue is: why is it that these stories go unheard? For example, as an Asian-American, it perturbed me to discover in my college years that there have been several massacres of Asians and Asian-Americans in US history that apparently are not notable enough to make it into mainstream high school history books. By bringing these stories and histories to light, we can empower those who have gone unheard for decades and centuries. And the elevation of those unheard, to me, is more construction than the devaluation of those who already have their spotlight.
1
Cirincis' comment below makes a great deal of sense: do not erase the names of famous people from buildings or institutions, but make sure that the full scope of their actions is made known, even to people who are not students of history.
Wilson's racism cannot be simply excused by calling him a man of his time. While his attitudes may have been characteristic of southern opinion at the time, his reflexive insistence on black inferiority and subordination was not a uniform national norm even in the second decade of the 20th century. He had to go out of his way to impose the reactionary limits on African-American civil servants that Mr. Davis describes.
There were some positive accomplishments of his Administration (e.g., the Federal Reserve, anti-trust enforcement). However, his legacy in international affairs was one largely of failure. By inspiring nationalist sentiments in Europe, supporting the creation of the League of Nations and then being unable or unwilling to persuade Congress to participate, and by acquiescing in the harsh post-World War I economic sanctions against Germany desired by the British and French, Wilson's actions were one of the factors underlying the rise of fascism inn the 1920s and 30s. Do not erase his memory, but use it well as a cautionary note.
Wilson's racism cannot be simply excused by calling him a man of his time. While his attitudes may have been characteristic of southern opinion at the time, his reflexive insistence on black inferiority and subordination was not a uniform national norm even in the second decade of the 20th century. He had to go out of his way to impose the reactionary limits on African-American civil servants that Mr. Davis describes.
There were some positive accomplishments of his Administration (e.g., the Federal Reserve, anti-trust enforcement). However, his legacy in international affairs was one largely of failure. By inspiring nationalist sentiments in Europe, supporting the creation of the League of Nations and then being unable or unwilling to persuade Congress to participate, and by acquiescing in the harsh post-World War I economic sanctions against Germany desired by the British and French, Wilson's actions were one of the factors underlying the rise of fascism inn the 1920s and 30s. Do not erase his memory, but use it well as a cautionary note.
2
This is a vivid and powerful column that profoundly alters my sense of Woodrow Wilson. Thank you Gordon Davis for educating many of us!
2
This is not about airbrushing history. This is about whom we choose to honor, and whether Woodrow Wilson's ugly racism deserve to be ignored.
Those indignant at the very thought of withdrawing honors from Wilson seem to feel that his racist actions and utterances don't matter. They do.
This is about whether or not Black lives matter. Nothing more, nothing less.
Those indignant at the very thought of withdrawing honors from Wilson seem to feel that his racist actions and utterances don't matter. They do.
This is about whether or not Black lives matter. Nothing more, nothing less.
4
keep wilson's name on everything at princeton, and add markers of some size that tell stories like this one. wilson should be remembered for his terrible racist actions. to take his name off buildings and programs gives him a pass and allows his racism to be too easily forgotten.
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington, African-American educator and a former slave, for dinner with his family at the White House. The invitation created a firestorm.
A generation later when Jesse Owens, the African-American athlete and four-time Olympic gold medal winner at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, returned to the US, Theodore's cousin, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, snubbed him and did not send him a traditional telegram. It was an election year and apparently Roosevelt didn't wish to upset Southern Democrats. Hitler had treated Jesse Owens better than the American president.
However, I know as an Irishman how corrosive dwelling too much about for example the past British legacy of misrule can provide excuses for our own more recent failures and damage relations between peoples today.
We Irish in America did support the pro-slavery Democratic Party during the Civil War and shamefully attacked and killed black people on the streets of New York City during the Union Army draft riots in 1863.
Thomas Jefferson was apparently a cruel slave master compared with George Washington. I'm not familiar with Wilson's racism.
The Church of England once owned slaves in Barbados.
Remedies for past injustice are challenging issues and it's easy to apologize as Tony Blair, then British prime minister, apologiszd for British policy during the 1840s Potato Famine .
A generation later when Jesse Owens, the African-American athlete and four-time Olympic gold medal winner at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, returned to the US, Theodore's cousin, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, snubbed him and did not send him a traditional telegram. It was an election year and apparently Roosevelt didn't wish to upset Southern Democrats. Hitler had treated Jesse Owens better than the American president.
However, I know as an Irishman how corrosive dwelling too much about for example the past British legacy of misrule can provide excuses for our own more recent failures and damage relations between peoples today.
We Irish in America did support the pro-slavery Democratic Party during the Civil War and shamefully attacked and killed black people on the streets of New York City during the Union Army draft riots in 1863.
Thomas Jefferson was apparently a cruel slave master compared with George Washington. I'm not familiar with Wilson's racism.
The Church of England once owned slaves in Barbados.
Remedies for past injustice are challenging issues and it's easy to apologize as Tony Blair, then British prime minister, apologiszd for British policy during the 1840s Potato Famine .
1
It's rather an alarming -- or amusing -- amount of panic over the name of a building: "Written out of History!!" No history books are or classes are actually being destroyed, or mandated, or forbidden from instruction (especially amusing considering certain efforts for controlling actual instruction allowed in Texas and that bit of Colorado, albeit at a younger age). The entire critical deciding pivot point of all regard, debate, exploration, theses, dissertations and popular opinion is a dorm name at a single university.
Let's get rid of any reminder of historical leaders that supported sexism. Who cares whether they were the product of their time; that's no excuse. Let's see, that would eliminate. . .pretty much everybody, wouldn't it?
The past is done. The future is what students need to consider, not ancestral failings.
The past is done. The future is what students need to consider, not ancestral failings.
3
Some sage once said, "Justice delayed is justice denied".
Justice for AfrAmericans has been habitually denied since the day
we first landed at Jamestown, VA.
This latest "revelation" about the racism of a particular "white" man
at a particular time in US history is not surprising. It would be surprising
only if he'd bucked the racist, white supremacist culture of his times...and that still persists in our time.
Right?
Http://RacemanAnswers.com
Justice for AfrAmericans has been habitually denied since the day
we first landed at Jamestown, VA.
This latest "revelation" about the racism of a particular "white" man
at a particular time in US history is not surprising. It would be surprising
only if he'd bucked the racist, white supremacist culture of his times...and that still persists in our time.
Right?
Http://RacemanAnswers.com
1
This history should be taught. It should mandatory in colleges (at least one semester of the general core curriculum) and it should be mandatory in American high schools.
If Wilson's name is kept on the building, there should be a large and prominent display chronicling his sorry contribution to the re-segregation of the Federal Government so that future generations may know and acknowledge his mistake.
1
Is it a right thing to do to remove Woodrew Wilson's likeness from Princeton, the university over which he presided? Yes, a good university has to uphold its values, standards and ideals of honour and integrity.
Although Woodrew Wilson is widely remembered as a progressive Democrat who introduced many liberal reforms at home and fought for the extension of democratic liberties and human rights abroad, his policy of racial integration in the federal civil service was regressive, and this legacy has been largely forgotten.
He saw segregation not humiliating, but a benefit, saying "It would take one hundred years to eradicate this prejudice, and we must deal with it as practical men." Indeed, a century later history judges him differently.
Although Woodrew Wilson is widely remembered as a progressive Democrat who introduced many liberal reforms at home and fought for the extension of democratic liberties and human rights abroad, his policy of racial integration in the federal civil service was regressive, and this legacy has been largely forgotten.
He saw segregation not humiliating, but a benefit, saying "It would take one hundred years to eradicate this prejudice, and we must deal with it as practical men." Indeed, a century later history judges him differently.
3
Ralph Waldo Tyler, (my great grandfather) a black man appointed auditor of the U. S. Navy under Theodore Roosevelt, sharply criticized Wilson's firing of negro gov't personnel. Tyler soon lost his own gov't position under Wilson but went on to become the first black foreign war correspondent despite Wilson's attempt to stymie his voice. The American people deserve to know the truth and the legacy of Wilson should be shared in full
457
Yes for those that care it has now been shared. That legacy is far in the past and has been erased, so it does not exist.
1
Most lost their jobs primarily because they were Republicans, who blacks supported at the time.
1
Of course Wilson was a "racist," by our modern understanding of that word. In his day, though, he was not seen as such. For, while he screened "The Birth of a Nation" at the White House - which he is vilified for today - we must also remember that it was the biggest, most successful movie of its time in theaters, as well. In other words, Wilson was a man of his time and it isn't fair to expect that he would be otherwise, based on contemporary views on race and racism.
Wilson was also the architect of the League of Nations. Is it really possible to be an irredeemable racist and want to give diverse nations all over the world an equal voice in world affairs?
All that said, I have to point out the irony of some of the things the Princeton students are "demanding" (really, they get to demand things? Give me a break!):
The students want a separate residential facility for "students of color" that would be a "safe space" for these students...
What? Wait a minute!
Wouldn't a separate residential facility that is only for "students of color" in fact be a segregated residential facility for colored students? How would the two be different?
So, these students are protesting an historical figure who engaged in promoting segregation by demanding... segregation?
I really thought students at Princeton were supposed to be smarter than that!
Wilson was also the architect of the League of Nations. Is it really possible to be an irredeemable racist and want to give diverse nations all over the world an equal voice in world affairs?
All that said, I have to point out the irony of some of the things the Princeton students are "demanding" (really, they get to demand things? Give me a break!):
The students want a separate residential facility for "students of color" that would be a "safe space" for these students...
What? Wait a minute!
Wouldn't a separate residential facility that is only for "students of color" in fact be a segregated residential facility for colored students? How would the two be different?
So, these students are protesting an historical figure who engaged in promoting segregation by demanding... segregation?
I really thought students at Princeton were supposed to be smarter than that!
6
So, these students are protesting an historical figure who engaged in promoting segregation by demanding... segregation?
when students "of color" demand segregation they are engaging in legitimate grievance, when euro-americans do they are racist.
why do euro americans not understand?
when students "of color" demand segregation they are engaging in legitimate grievance, when euro-americans do they are racist.
why do euro americans not understand?
I, for one, am happy to have to the opportunity to keep learning new things, even if they are dispiriting. Thank you for sharing.
6
If this were a story about WWII and the extermination of the Jews people would be much more understanding. What happened to this man's grandfather is no less tragic than what happened to the Jews.
4
Being demoted in your civil service job is the same as being murdered in a gas chamber? You have a most relativistic moral compass.
2
As the debate at Princeton about the "racist" history of Woodrow Wilson explodes, I have the good fortune to be reading A. Berg's "Wilson," a thoroughly researched biography of Woodrow Wilson. While I don't deny that Wilson did not champion black rights, the biography paints a far more nuanced picture with extensive documentation from the writings of Wilson at the time. Wilson saw himself as attempting to balance the interests of the many who opposed forcing a commingling of whites and blacks in the workplace with preserving the opportunities of black Americans in the Federal workforce. While "separate but equal" was thoroughly debunked by the end of the 50's, it is not fair to impose those same standards for the 1910's.
3
As Gordon Davis informs, Wilson acted to undo some of what little had been accomplished by 1913, some 50 years after the abolishing of slavery. Sorry, I don't think he should get a pass.
3
Racism was the snake in the garden in 1776, and remains so. The framers were, for the most part, racists and slaveowners, regardless of their embrace of Enlightenment values. 20 years ago, our family tour of Martha Washington's family plantation, included a description of the "workers' homes," a/k/a, slave quarters.
Woodrow Wilson's prejudices were despicable, and injured many, including Gordon Davis's grandfather. Yet he also was a progressive who fought for anti-trust legislation and labor rights and, as president of the United States, established, for example, the FTC. He opposed the onerous terms of the Treaty of Versaille that precipitated the rise of Nazi Germany, and broke his health in the attempt to establish the League of Nations. Do we forget all that?
We cannot deodorize American history. Many of our heroes were also villains, especially when the subject was race. Lincoln once contemplated encouraging African-Americans to immigrate to Africa. FDR acquiesced to racists who objected to an integrated CCC, and permitted American citizens of Japanese descent to be interned in what were, effectively, concentration camps. Thomas Jefferson's family still will not acknowledge Jefferson's mixed race children and their descendants.
Wilson's history should not be sanitized. He did terrible things. Yet if we don't honor his achievements, we are hypocritically denying the central contradiction in our history: that we were racists who professed to believe in equality.
Woodrow Wilson's prejudices were despicable, and injured many, including Gordon Davis's grandfather. Yet he also was a progressive who fought for anti-trust legislation and labor rights and, as president of the United States, established, for example, the FTC. He opposed the onerous terms of the Treaty of Versaille that precipitated the rise of Nazi Germany, and broke his health in the attempt to establish the League of Nations. Do we forget all that?
We cannot deodorize American history. Many of our heroes were also villains, especially when the subject was race. Lincoln once contemplated encouraging African-Americans to immigrate to Africa. FDR acquiesced to racists who objected to an integrated CCC, and permitted American citizens of Japanese descent to be interned in what were, effectively, concentration camps. Thomas Jefferson's family still will not acknowledge Jefferson's mixed race children and their descendants.
Wilson's history should not be sanitized. He did terrible things. Yet if we don't honor his achievements, we are hypocritically denying the central contradiction in our history: that we were racists who professed to believe in equality.
1
Wilson has to go. He is hated by liberals and conservatives.
2
This is very, very sobering. But I would love to hear Mr. Davis' thoughts on how he became so successful in just 2 generations since this family humiliation. Williams and Harvard educations, and then a full, varied and prestigious career. We've learned about how the legacy of slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, etc. has devastated generations of African Americans. What broke this pattern for his family? I don't think renaming buildings is the answer (is it a distraction from the real issues?), although may be the right thing to do in many cases. I'd like to hear more from African Americans who have broken through the barriers and figure out how talented African American kids in our universities can fully take advantage of opportunity, and become happy, successful adults.
10
Are you implying that achievement of an African American should be dependent upon the success of his recent ancestors? That no one should have risen above his/her "station?"
2
these attitudes persisted into Wilson's much acclaimed internationalism, which was nothing more the rise of economic colonialism, and his personal shouldering of the "white man's burden". Wilson was also very anti-labor, wiping out the largest socialist-anarchist labor organization in the country, the IWW with the Palmer Raids. He destroyed union records and jailed and deported its leaders using anti red propaganda as justification. no one is asking that he be removed from history, only that he not be wrongly held up as a great example, history needs to be accurate.
8
Say what you will about Wilson's achievements but at his core, he.was a racist whose actions obstucted people from having the opportunity to advance themselves. Is this the legacy that Princeton University would have associated with itself as an institution of higher learning?
This nation's principles of liberty and equality demand better leadership that actually provides all people such opportunity and gives true meaning and effect to these words. in that respect, Wilson was a failed leader.
This nation's principles of liberty and equality demand better leadership that actually provides all people such opportunity and gives true meaning and effect to these words. in that respect, Wilson was a failed leader.
8
A racist is a racist is a racist.
But a President who was a racist is unforgiveable.
But a President who was a racist is unforgiveable.
2
Why are these people then protesting a historical racist even though there's current racists running for the presidency now??
It's hard to argue with this op-ed piece.
4
Jacob Gould Schurman was a contemporary of Woodrow Wilson , ambassador to China and Germany and president of Cornell University and he forcefully supported blacks and other minorities attending Cornell. Headline from a NYT article NO COLOR LINE AT CORNELL.; President Schurman Declares Sage College Must Admit Negro Girls. He also spoke out against antisemitisn and for women in higher education. They were a few people from that time period who got it right.
8
What the recent discussions about Wilson are showing me is that we are failing to teach history fully and properly. With the constant drumbeat of STEM, STEM, and more STEM, we are disregarding the importance of a full and well-rounded education.
I have been perplexed by the Wilson controversy, mainly because I assumed his racist views and practices were common knowledge. When I took US history in high school in the late 80s -- in the South, no less -- my teacher emphasized Wilson's horrific views on race so we could contrast them with his more progressive views on labor and trusts. The main takeaway for a then 17-year-old? All leaders are flawed. My teacher made sure we new about the internment of Japanese Americans to balance out FDR, and he supplied endless anecdotes about JFK and LBJ to humanize the presidents who fought for Civil Rights. He reminded us that Lincoln did not believe in the equality of the races, even as he sought to end slavery.
So what is my takeaway now? We need to do a better job of teaching history, everyone's history, so we can form opinions and make arguments that are thoughtful, informed, and nuanced. If we can ever accomplish that, perhaps we would hold our current leaders a high standard while also understanding that even the best of them are flawed and deserve a modicum of understanding when they make mistakes.
I have been perplexed by the Wilson controversy, mainly because I assumed his racist views and practices were common knowledge. When I took US history in high school in the late 80s -- in the South, no less -- my teacher emphasized Wilson's horrific views on race so we could contrast them with his more progressive views on labor and trusts. The main takeaway for a then 17-year-old? All leaders are flawed. My teacher made sure we new about the internment of Japanese Americans to balance out FDR, and he supplied endless anecdotes about JFK and LBJ to humanize the presidents who fought for Civil Rights. He reminded us that Lincoln did not believe in the equality of the races, even as he sought to end slavery.
So what is my takeaway now? We need to do a better job of teaching history, everyone's history, so we can form opinions and make arguments that are thoughtful, informed, and nuanced. If we can ever accomplish that, perhaps we would hold our current leaders a high standard while also understanding that even the best of them are flawed and deserve a modicum of understanding when they make mistakes.
20
When we ignore history, we invalidate the experience of the people harmed leaving a lasting legacy of hurt and anger that prevents us from moving forward. History is a constant gut check, reminding us that no nation and no individual is infallible. We become better people by knowing our mistakes. Let this story - and many others - be published and acknowledged. What Wilson did was wrong.
5
I am not surprised by the tone of the commenters who essentially ask, "what's the big deal?" In this country, we don't place much value on history; hence, we consistently miss opportunities to learn from it. I read an article in another publication this morning where a conservative commentator refuted criticism of Donald Trump's divisive campaign rhetoric by arguing that he was channeling Andrew Jackson. He makes a valid point: there are numerous similarities between their positions. The unanswered question is "if we know this type of person once occupied the White House, why would we elect another person who seems guided by the same principles?"
For those commenters who don't understand the fuss about Wilson's segregation policy, put yourselves in the position of the people being kicked in the teeth and told their progress (not enjoyed for very long or easily obtained) was at an end. How would you process that new reality? If you have difficulty with the question, could it be that you can't imagine yourselves in a position where you would be on the receiving end of such targeted injustice? All these students are doing is raising valid points about actual historical events which have never been seriously addressed because Americans are uncomfortable dealing with the issue. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Wilson's name is removed from a single building; we all, however, will be better for having had the discussion.
For those commenters who don't understand the fuss about Wilson's segregation policy, put yourselves in the position of the people being kicked in the teeth and told their progress (not enjoyed for very long or easily obtained) was at an end. How would you process that new reality? If you have difficulty with the question, could it be that you can't imagine yourselves in a position where you would be on the receiving end of such targeted injustice? All these students are doing is raising valid points about actual historical events which have never been seriously addressed because Americans are uncomfortable dealing with the issue. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Wilson's name is removed from a single building; we all, however, will be better for having had the discussion.
210
Well Gee it was a long time ago and apparently we have learned our lesson. We have laws against these sorts of actions. How about a discussion on how to reduce crime, improve the economy, or fight terror rather than the past that can't be changed and is irrelevant today.
1
Okay. I get it. We can't rush to judge our ancestors' accomplishments through modern day views and thoughts. So should we just let the record stand? Let the confederate flags fly? Maintain institutional symbols that continue to offend a significant portion of our people? Or should we insist that this country is not about -- should not be about -- keeping others out or keeping some down, but about equality, inclusion and building a democracy that accepts the changing nature of this one?
"No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them." -- Elie Wiesel
"No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them." -- Elie Wiesel
2
Wilson also condoned the Plamer raids. Look it up.
1
Simply removing statues and portraits of Woodrow Wilson will not remove his very mixed legacy. What is needed is a way to change the one-sided picture to one that shows both sides of the man.
I, for one, was not aware of his racist side. There are undoubtedly people now who would remove all Muslims from government service. It would be good to be reminded of the damage that all forms of racism can do, especially when exercised by those in power.
I, for one, was not aware of his racist side. There are undoubtedly people now who would remove all Muslims from government service. It would be good to be reminded of the damage that all forms of racism can do, especially when exercised by those in power.
1
My initial reaction to the Princeton student clamor over Woodrow Wilson was "really?" When viewed against the charges of "micro aggressions" and the tiresome tirades over "dead white European cultures," I was prepared to dismiss the student's voices as just more adolescent noise.
As a result of this column by Mr Davis I decided to do a little online research of President Wilson. I came away disappointed in the man's character and willingness to cripple a people in the name of political expediency.
Wilson needed southern democrat support in order to win the presidential election. He clearly made quid pro quo decisions to reverse policies in place during the Reconstruction in order to solidify that support. The introduction of segregation into the federal government was one of those policies. This pandering to southern democrats was a Faustian bargain he made in order to be president.
Wilson committed the support of the office of the president to make Jim Crow the de facto law of the land with regard to racial relations. Even setting aside the moral failure of the man in this instance, even by the standards of his day, Wilson's support of segregation has caused great harm to our nation. A good portion of the legacy of racial upheaval in our country for the past 100 years can be laid at Wilson's door for the simple reason that he was the president.
When politicians are willing to pander to racism for political gain they weaken the moral fabric of our liberties.
As a result of this column by Mr Davis I decided to do a little online research of President Wilson. I came away disappointed in the man's character and willingness to cripple a people in the name of political expediency.
Wilson needed southern democrat support in order to win the presidential election. He clearly made quid pro quo decisions to reverse policies in place during the Reconstruction in order to solidify that support. The introduction of segregation into the federal government was one of those policies. This pandering to southern democrats was a Faustian bargain he made in order to be president.
Wilson committed the support of the office of the president to make Jim Crow the de facto law of the land with regard to racial relations. Even setting aside the moral failure of the man in this instance, even by the standards of his day, Wilson's support of segregation has caused great harm to our nation. A good portion of the legacy of racial upheaval in our country for the past 100 years can be laid at Wilson's door for the simple reason that he was the president.
When politicians are willing to pander to racism for political gain they weaken the moral fabric of our liberties.
11
This was 102 years ago. Back then there may have been 6 whites nationwide who weren't segregationists. It was wrong, but the norm. My Irish great grandfather couldn't find a job in Boston. "No Irish need apply."
Get over it and move on.
Get over it and move on.
3
While any fair-minded person can but agree with the sentiment underlying this article, the stretched outcome of such moralizing is surely pernicious. If applied liberally it would remove all non-blacks from history. In such a moral universe only blacks need apply. At some point (in a parallel universe?) it must be realized that the sins of the father do not necessarily descend.
2
Perhaps Princeton can take the lead in designing a mechanism by which universities can resolve these issues. Since this will be an ongoing problem because time doesn't stand still, I suggest an annual evaluation of all named structures, statues, programs, etc... Those deemed inappropriate shall be renamed and/or removed. A list of approved replacement names should be generated each year, as well. If there aren't enough names to replace those removed, perhaps numbers, colors, or shapes could be used. But keep in mind that these, too, could have negative connotations and should be reviewed annually, too. I'm hoping that President Eisgruber will spearhead this endeavor.
1
I am all for a frank and serious discussion about Wilson and how his racist policies affected black America. But in the race (no pun intended) to make America's college campuses "safe spaces" we are going down a slippery slope. Yes we need to acknowledge the good and bad with our past (and for that matter current) leaders, but that does not mean scrubbing them from history. Truth does not equal deletion.
When will we stop are we going to have to rename Washington, DC, after all General Washington did own slaves? Does this mean we can stop the singing of the national anthem before every game or other random event? Francis Scott Key was also a racist.
Are we going to look at all our past leaders with the lens of today? Once we are done scrubbing all those who sentiments offend us from our buildings, city names, money we will be left with no sense of what we were or how far we've come.
When will we stop are we going to have to rename Washington, DC, after all General Washington did own slaves? Does this mean we can stop the singing of the national anthem before every game or other random event? Francis Scott Key was also a racist.
Are we going to look at all our past leaders with the lens of today? Once we are done scrubbing all those who sentiments offend us from our buildings, city names, money we will be left with no sense of what we were or how far we've come.
3
I believe the perspective of "taking offense" does not characterize the effect of powerful members of national leadership who acted maliciously to demean, deprive people of an livelihood they were qualified for and demonstrated capacity they had a capacity to excell at. Mr Wilson intentionally changed the course of history by his racist attitude and abuse of power. Revisionist history that obscures or delete the truth over time does not mitigate the facts. Lives were destroyed by this man. He does not deserve any accolades for the racist legacy he had more pride in than anything he did while President of these United States.
1
At Princeton, student protesters seem to have found a compelling cause that demands change in the name of racial justice. It will be interesting to see how those seeking to defend the status quo go about trying to undermine the students' credibility and derail their movement.
Will we see an exercise in historical relativism that paints the racist Wilson as a product (and victim) of his time? Will Wilson's record as a statesman be used to justify continuing to honor a man whose views on race are indefensible by 21st century standards? Will Princeton alumni, surely a force to be reckoned with, work behind the scenes to detail this movement in the belief that criticism of the university undermines their own self worth?
My guess is that the powers that be at Stanford are making contingency plans in the event Stanford students pause long enough in their race for riches to question why Stanford should continue to be associated with Herbert Hoover.
Will we see an exercise in historical relativism that paints the racist Wilson as a product (and victim) of his time? Will Wilson's record as a statesman be used to justify continuing to honor a man whose views on race are indefensible by 21st century standards? Will Princeton alumni, surely a force to be reckoned with, work behind the scenes to detail this movement in the belief that criticism of the university undermines their own self worth?
My guess is that the powers that be at Stanford are making contingency plans in the event Stanford students pause long enough in their race for riches to question why Stanford should continue to be associated with Herbert Hoover.
2
The Princeton students are not calling for the total erasure of Wilson's legacy but are asking the university community to consider the prominent symbolism of Wilson's image and name for students who know American History from the perspective of the color line. Princeton has made efforts to diversify its student body and faculty in recent years, so the contradictions of its heritage have been thrown into sharper focus. And a university is precisely where these contradictions should be explored and debated. Some years ago, Brown University performed an exemplary service in its public acknowledgement and thorough investigation of the Brown family's deep involvement in the slave trade. The university's name was not changed but the consciousness of its community and alumni was.
The saddest revelation of Davis' story of his grandfather is the reminder that even the most high-achieving members of the first generation out of slavery were forcibly held back from economic opportunity and capital accumulation, both social and economic. That burden is ours today in a society where it remains difficult for many African Americans to "get ahead" and black wealth accumulation over generations remains far below that of whites. Of course Wilson reflected the racist beliefs of the majority of white people a century ago. Neither Congress nor the judiciary made any move to overrule his directive barring blacks from federal employment except in menial jobs.
The saddest revelation of Davis' story of his grandfather is the reminder that even the most high-achieving members of the first generation out of slavery were forcibly held back from economic opportunity and capital accumulation, both social and economic. That burden is ours today in a society where it remains difficult for many African Americans to "get ahead" and black wealth accumulation over generations remains far below that of whites. Of course Wilson reflected the racist beliefs of the majority of white people a century ago. Neither Congress nor the judiciary made any move to overrule his directive barring blacks from federal employment except in menial jobs.
214
I did not know about this and it makes no difference today. Those who think it does need to grow up.
Thank you thank you thank you for writing this. It's what I needed to read, it's the history most of us don't know. And when it's personal it comes alive. Now I understand the issue about Woodrow Wilson, that it was his policies that had major repercussions on blacks at that time, not things he said or wrote. I'm not sure how I feel about removing Wilson's name from buildings, etc.; I think it is much more important, vital, that people learn about what really went on. I got more from this article than anything I've ever read by Charles Blow. Thank you.
5
My wife and I recently helped a man get out of prison who had no place to go. The key for his remaining out of prison is to find work. The first job he got he was released after they discovered his history. He managed to get another job where he was a tow motor operator. He told me he was doing well and they liked his work. Last week he sent me a message that he lost his job. No details.
I finally reached him and he told me they let him go because he was "too slow". I pressed him on it and he said he thinks since the plant was mostly Black and Puerto Rican he didn't fit in. I'll never know the real reason. My hunch is that they rotate people out to keep from joining the Union and getting a real wage. Just thought I would share that "too slow" is still used as a tool to get rid of workers. I'm pretty sure he was not "too slow".
I finally reached him and he told me they let him go because he was "too slow". I pressed him on it and he said he thinks since the plant was mostly Black and Puerto Rican he didn't fit in. I'll never know the real reason. My hunch is that they rotate people out to keep from joining the Union and getting a real wage. Just thought I would share that "too slow" is still used as a tool to get rid of workers. I'm pretty sure he was not "too slow".
3
Sounds to me that the author's grandfather was a talented, ambitious and honorable man - who would have gone far in today's relatively non-racist America.
1
I appreciate Mr. Davis' anger at the mistreatment of his grandfather but I wish he had added a bit more about historical context.
Some readers might think that there was a continuous progress in the rights of African-Americans that was suddenly disrupted by Wilson.
First of all, in 1896, before Wilson was president of Princeton much less of the U.S., the Supreme Court issued the Plessy v. Ferguson decision allowing for separate but equal treatment of blacks in this country which everyone knew meant separate and unequal in practice.
Also reconstruction had long since ended with all the blacks elected to Congress and legislatures in the south being turned out of office with former Confederates largely replacing them.
And although Theodore Roosevelt did promote better treatment of blacks working for the Federal government, his Republican successor, William Howard Taft, did little to continue this.
Mr. Davis may be good lawyer in that he only presents evidence to support his case but this makes for distorted history.
And a question for Mr. Davis and the other supporters of taking Wilson's name off Princeton: what should Jews do about their ancestors who were denied entrance into Ivy League schools that instituted quotas against them beginning in the 1920s and continuing into the 1960s. Should those of us whose ancestors experienced this demand that all those at those universities who supported these policies have their names similarly removed?
Some readers might think that there was a continuous progress in the rights of African-Americans that was suddenly disrupted by Wilson.
First of all, in 1896, before Wilson was president of Princeton much less of the U.S., the Supreme Court issued the Plessy v. Ferguson decision allowing for separate but equal treatment of blacks in this country which everyone knew meant separate and unequal in practice.
Also reconstruction had long since ended with all the blacks elected to Congress and legislatures in the south being turned out of office with former Confederates largely replacing them.
And although Theodore Roosevelt did promote better treatment of blacks working for the Federal government, his Republican successor, William Howard Taft, did little to continue this.
Mr. Davis may be good lawyer in that he only presents evidence to support his case but this makes for distorted history.
And a question for Mr. Davis and the other supporters of taking Wilson's name off Princeton: what should Jews do about their ancestors who were denied entrance into Ivy League schools that instituted quotas against them beginning in the 1920s and continuing into the 1960s. Should those of us whose ancestors experienced this demand that all those at those universities who supported these policies have their names similarly removed?
2
This essay is a stark example of why so much of the African-American community remains mired in the quicksands of society. There is virtually no individual from 100 years ago who appears "pure" by today's standards.
Religion, economic theory, historical interpretation, scientific ignorance of a century ago (among many others) can all be blamed for for the societal problems of today. It is pointless. Just as Mr. Davis reveals his thinking to be both incisive and speculative at the same time, most humans have some repugnant quality in their makeup.
This kind of amorphous, anachronistic lamenting only provides excuses to abandon a positive approach toward self- or community- improvement. Let's relegate this type of analysis to the backrooms of academic research (where somebody may care about it) and instead present a model for the future.
Religion, economic theory, historical interpretation, scientific ignorance of a century ago (among many others) can all be blamed for for the societal problems of today. It is pointless. Just as Mr. Davis reveals his thinking to be both incisive and speculative at the same time, most humans have some repugnant quality in their makeup.
This kind of amorphous, anachronistic lamenting only provides excuses to abandon a positive approach toward self- or community- improvement. Let's relegate this type of analysis to the backrooms of academic research (where somebody may care about it) and instead present a model for the future.
3
Anachronistic lamenting? I didn't get that at all. Mr. Davis doesn't even state his views on what actions to take, if any, at Princeton in response to those calling for changes. He is describing history that impacted his family, his grandfather, in a brutal way that comes across vividly with simple directness in his piece, history, frankly, I had no real knowledge of until today.
2
Princeton is a university with a questionable racial legacy that has been working for decades, and continues to work, to evolve and improve its environment for all students, faculty and administrators. But as a private institution it can name its buildings and schools any way it chooses, and Wilson was one of its singular presidents, long recognized as the leader who moved that university into the modern age of education and service. The student protesters calling themselves Black Justice League deserve qualified praise for forcing us all - including non-Princeton people - to focus on how far American society has come in addressing racial inequities - and how far we have to go - but ultimately Princeton gets to study the matter and decide what to do, if anything, about Wilson and the question of the school's overall racial relations. Which is apparently what President Eisgruber '83 and the Board of Trustees plan to do. If they choose to hear informed opinion of select alumnae/i, they can turn to the Latina US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor '76 or even to the African-American First Lady, Michelle Obama '83. Perhaps the experience of Bill Bradley '65 could be weighed, as someone who went from Princeton to the racially insensitive Rhodes Scholarship to a career in the racially mixed National Basketball Association. The point is, outsiders can (and will) talk all we want; Princeton gets to decide what, if anything, to do. And it will be judged by its decision.
It might be more worthwhile to let the flawed past be and work instead on changing the now.
4
John
"The problem with all these politically correct statue removal campaigns is where does it end? " The answer is self evident. It doesn't. We are a nation born in the theft of land, stolen from another race and who from our highest office on down held other men as slaves. It his who we were and to a lesser extent still are. This cannot be washed away by calling it "politically correct" as though it were a minor offense of some sort. It can only be mitigated by proving that it is not who we now are. There seems to be little in sight to show that we are moving in that direction.
"The problem with all these politically correct statue removal campaigns is where does it end? " The answer is self evident. It doesn't. We are a nation born in the theft of land, stolen from another race and who from our highest office on down held other men as slaves. It his who we were and to a lesser extent still are. This cannot be washed away by calling it "politically correct" as though it were a minor offense of some sort. It can only be mitigated by proving that it is not who we now are. There seems to be little in sight to show that we are moving in that direction.
5
When I was in school Wilson's racism was washed over by whitesplaining that he was "from the South". Oh, so that makes it OK? Mr. Davis tells a human story of the devastating consequences of Wilson's policies. Wilson also put Eugene Debs in prison, suspended civil rights, deported immigrants, dragged the US into a war nobody wanted, gave J Edgar Hoover his start in forming the national security state, concealed his debilitating illness from the public for years, and helped formulate the worst possible treaty in Paris that virtually guaranteed WWII. They should take his name off the buildings at Princeton and put it in the ashcan of history where it belongs.
7
I remember the first time I went to Italy and saw, particularly in the larger southern cities, the monuments to fascism that remain there -- amazing, I thought, and I likened it to the Confederate monuments one sees in town squares throughout the American South. Renaming the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the residential college isn't "erasing history" -- history persists. History is what allows us to evaluate Wilson's legacy, and to celebrate and condemn it as appropriate. America needs fewer myths and empty monuments and more cold-eyed assessment of its racist history, and the consequences of that history. Sure, some of the protests at campuses around the country have been sparked by picayune objections to semantic issues, and the implications in some cases for free speech and academic freedom have been troubling at times. But this is a different matter. No institution can guarantee that students of color and other minorities will feel comfortable and welcome at all times, and history should never be effaced. But there's no point in celebrating aspects of the past that are inherently hurtful.
4
These acts of historical racism need to be considered within the conditions and political landscape of the time in which they occurred. Virtually all nations progress and move along a continuum of increasing acceptance of racial and ethnic differences among their citizens, excluding modern day Tea Party / Republicans. Taken to its logical extension, we will be forced to remove the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and rename the Nations Capital. History is just that - its is history.
2
I have known about Wilson's shameful actions regarding race since reading a recent biography of him. I was surprised to learn that he was one of few Southern presidents and that he had been born in the South before the Civil War. I think it is important that we know how much he did to harm the African American population in this country. However, I agree with James Lee that many of our most notable Americans, presidents among them, had things in their lives which would condemn them by today's standards.
Much as I hate what he did to this country in terms of race relations and the ability of African Americans to earn a decent living through civil service, I don't think we want to start renaming buildings every time we discover something we don't like about the people they were named after. Tulsa recently tried to rename Brady Street after it was discovered that the man it was named after was racist. That didn't end well.
Both of my grandfathers were members of the KKK. There were no African Americans in the small town where I grew up, but there were people who were up to no good and the KKK made it their job to intervene. Neither of my grandfathers was a saint; both were products of the society that produced them. But, neither deserves condemnation for being what they were.
Much as I hate what he did to this country in terms of race relations and the ability of African Americans to earn a decent living through civil service, I don't think we want to start renaming buildings every time we discover something we don't like about the people they were named after. Tulsa recently tried to rename Brady Street after it was discovered that the man it was named after was racist. That didn't end well.
Both of my grandfathers were members of the KKK. There were no African Americans in the small town where I grew up, but there were people who were up to no good and the KKK made it their job to intervene. Neither of my grandfathers was a saint; both were products of the society that produced them. But, neither deserves condemnation for being what they were.
Your grandfathers were members of a terrorist organization that committed unspeakable crimes. I am sure there were plenty of white men "of their time" who did not join the KKK. They deserve condemnation and more, and Wilson's culpability in ruining the lives of American citizens that he was supposed to represent should not be whitewashed.
6
You can't go back and change history, nor should you try to sanitize it. Erasing Woodrow Wilson will not only obscure the good he did, but more importantly, the harm he also did. We ought to shine a light on all of it so that history can properly inform our understanding of today's events.
101
The question was never about "erasing" Wilson or anyone else from history. It is only about no longer honoring him as an exemplar. The later seems like progress to me. As some other commenters have pointed out, this is about remembering all the things he did, and condemning some of them, perhaps as a reminder that people do do good sometimes also do evil.
2
It is the height of historical illiteracy to say Wilson was an internationalist and a peace maker. The treaty of Versailles was vindictive and destructive and is the root cause of the second World War with the impossible humiliation and destruction of Germany. It opened up the door to the Reich and Hitler. His ivory tower statements about the right of minorities to rise into nation states ended up giving those artificially created nations to the British "mandates" and to French colonialism. The situation with Germany was reversed with the Marshall Plan and the recovery of Germany in the late 1940ies. But the smoldering situation in the middle east continues worse than ever with ancient religious conflicts rising to murderous ruling governance status.
Get rid of this man's name and his historic racism at home and meddling in international politics with century of very bad outcomes. He was one of the worst presidents of the USA.
Get rid of this man's name and his historic racism at home and meddling in international politics with century of very bad outcomes. He was one of the worst presidents of the USA.
3
Woodrow has gone the way of Atticus – though thankfully there aren’t many people named Woodrow running around. (In 2014, Atticus ranked 370 in the Social Security Administration’s list of the top names for boys.) Atticus Finch has always been loved more by whites than by blacks, and To Kill a Mockingbord is, in the words of Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, a “white savior” narrative. Woodrow is a symbol as well, of American progressivism and internationalism. Christopher L. Eisgruber, president of Princeton, told the New York Times, “People become very invested in symbols. And one of the benefits of having a genuine public discussion, informed by scholarly opinion, about some of these questions is that it can help educate people about problems that go beyond the symbol in our society.” I agree with the comments of others, that we cannot simply erase history and rename most of our monuments and institutions (think of the cost!). What we can do is acknowledge the good with the bad, in a public way, initiated by the students at Princeton and other schools. It is happening at a time in our history when racism has been shown to be alive and well, not just in the deep South, but everywhere.
2
One has to remember one thing about past history. None of us were there. Wiping the slate clean, so to speak, does not erase the times that those people lived in, their prejudices and actions, good and bad, that took place back then.
What we can do is read, listen, analyze and figure out how we can avoid such negative attitudes ourselves. Try being Irish in America some time ago. "Irish need not apply" was a common sign. So who do we "erase" for that? No, that would be giving in and demeaning yourself and your heritage. You just pick yourself up after being stomped on, professionally (or literally) speaking, and keep going.
We need to keep the books open. We need to realize that people today we admire also have faults and limitations. If we do not recognize this we are doomed to repeat the past.
Wisdom does not come cheap.
What we can do is read, listen, analyze and figure out how we can avoid such negative attitudes ourselves. Try being Irish in America some time ago. "Irish need not apply" was a common sign. So who do we "erase" for that? No, that would be giving in and demeaning yourself and your heritage. You just pick yourself up after being stomped on, professionally (or literally) speaking, and keep going.
We need to keep the books open. We need to realize that people today we admire also have faults and limitations. If we do not recognize this we are doomed to repeat the past.
Wisdom does not come cheap.
2
Venable, LLC? That's my family's last name. Is the fin Black owned? The Venables in the "phone book in nyc are all related to me. Anyway this article sheds a great deal of light on this tradegy. Black lives and families didn't matter to Wilson and they don't matter now.on so many levels this story is difficult to read but the truth of it provides another narrative that explains the condition of families and communities. In the wake of this atrocity, this author and his family still found the capacity to become great.
1
The debate about Woodrow Wilson started by African-American students at Princeton has been a real education for me. The Wilson bio I was taught focused on his heroic but ultimately futile effort to persuade the country to join the League of Nations, which Western idealists of the time thought would be the institution that would make World War I "the war to end all wars." If Wilson's racist views were mentioned, it was only briefly and in passing.
But now that the subject has been raised, it seems unsurprising. Wilson was born in Virginia in 1856, to slaveholding parents, and his father was a vocal advocate of slavery. He spent much of his childhood in Georgia and South Carolina. Ideologically, Wilson was a post-bellum Southern Democrat, and he was the first Southerner to be elected president after the Civil War.
As president of Princeton, Wilson maintained a rigorous ban against African-American students and faculty, even while other universities took their first, tentative steps toward integration. Princeton did not admit an African-American student until 1940.
It is sad to learn that Wilson presided over the re-segregation of the federal civil service, but it is only surprising because our history of Wilson's public life has been so largely whitewashed for us. Thanks to the Princeton students, and to Mr. Davis, for writing in some of the missing chapters.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
But now that the subject has been raised, it seems unsurprising. Wilson was born in Virginia in 1856, to slaveholding parents, and his father was a vocal advocate of slavery. He spent much of his childhood in Georgia and South Carolina. Ideologically, Wilson was a post-bellum Southern Democrat, and he was the first Southerner to be elected president after the Civil War.
As president of Princeton, Wilson maintained a rigorous ban against African-American students and faculty, even while other universities took their first, tentative steps toward integration. Princeton did not admit an African-American student until 1940.
It is sad to learn that Wilson presided over the re-segregation of the federal civil service, but it is only surprising because our history of Wilson's public life has been so largely whitewashed for us. Thanks to the Princeton students, and to Mr. Davis, for writing in some of the missing chapters.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
28
I haven't read all the comments but they seem to be divided between "times were different then" and "FDR, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, et al were just as bad" on the one hand and "Wilson was despicable" on the other. Racism was (as it still is) prevalent in the US then and Wilson probably believed, having been raised and educated in the South, that blacks were inferior. But Wilson was, if anything, an intellectual and seems to had been somewhat of a visionary. As such he had to have had some intellectual curiosity regarding this huge portion of the population of the the US that was, at that time free, voting citizens, many of whom, at that time had quite a list of intellectual, artistic and scientific achievements.
Wilson was blinded by hatred. What he did is use his position to hurt people who were obviously progressing from horrible situations against great odds. The fact that government positions of the type occupied by Mr. Davis were open to blacks indicates that, again, AT THAT TIME, the US was able to take steps, however limited, toward getting the sons and daughters of slaves a chance to succeed in this country. The US government was, even then, a huge employer and Wilson's actions were a huge deterrent on the road to healing our racial wounds.
Whatever you say about Wilson, you can't deny that he was a man of great hatred, vengeance and cruelty. That is extraordinary in a leader of such accomplishment as has been credited to him.
Wilson was blinded by hatred. What he did is use his position to hurt people who were obviously progressing from horrible situations against great odds. The fact that government positions of the type occupied by Mr. Davis were open to blacks indicates that, again, AT THAT TIME, the US was able to take steps, however limited, toward getting the sons and daughters of slaves a chance to succeed in this country. The US government was, even then, a huge employer and Wilson's actions were a huge deterrent on the road to healing our racial wounds.
Whatever you say about Wilson, you can't deny that he was a man of great hatred, vengeance and cruelty. That is extraordinary in a leader of such accomplishment as has been credited to him.
10
Whatever people may feel about removing President Wilson's name from Princeton University, Gordon Davis's writing is an extremely important contribution both to the discussion and to the historical record.
What a clear example of how racism not only destroys lives but also denies all of us the contributions that unheralded good people of great talent and hard work make to our nation.
It appears that Gordon Davis carries forward inside himself many of his grandfather's talents, for in spite of what was done to his grandfather and his family, he has risen to a position ( I googled) in which he has been able to make substantial contributions to life in our city.
Thank you, Mr. Davis, for this important essay, which, hopefully, will be discussed not only here but also in textbooks and history classes for years to come, including at Princeton.
What a clear example of how racism not only destroys lives but also denies all of us the contributions that unheralded good people of great talent and hard work make to our nation.
It appears that Gordon Davis carries forward inside himself many of his grandfather's talents, for in spite of what was done to his grandfather and his family, he has risen to a position ( I googled) in which he has been able to make substantial contributions to life in our city.
Thank you, Mr. Davis, for this important essay, which, hopefully, will be discussed not only here but also in textbooks and history classes for years to come, including at Princeton.
11
During the 1940s and 1950s, I experienced my childhood, adolescence and education in the segregated south. Even though I was surrounded by racism and was not mentored by anyone who would teach me otherwise, I was nonetheless embarrassed and repelled by it. But I also knew that those attitudes were so firmly ingrained in the community in which I lived and that I had no power to change them. Just speaking out against that culture would have alienated me from the greater community in which I lived, so I didn't.
Once I became an adult and achieved the rank and management power to make changes, I established affirmative action training and hiring programs to bring people of color into my industry and to give women opportunities in career paths that were not traditionally open to them. Having reared my children to love and appreciate people of all races and colors, they are culturally richer for it and they have reared my grandchildren with the same enlightened attitudes.
As other comment contributors have so eloquently pointed out, these are different times than when Woodrow Wilson and our nation's founding fathers lived. Racism was rampant when Woodrow Wilson was in positions of leadership. Having imperfect people judging and vilifying 19th and early 20th century behavior by 21st century standards is neither realistic nor prudent.
"There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us."
Once I became an adult and achieved the rank and management power to make changes, I established affirmative action training and hiring programs to bring people of color into my industry and to give women opportunities in career paths that were not traditionally open to them. Having reared my children to love and appreciate people of all races and colors, they are culturally richer for it and they have reared my grandchildren with the same enlightened attitudes.
As other comment contributors have so eloquently pointed out, these are different times than when Woodrow Wilson and our nation's founding fathers lived. Racism was rampant when Woodrow Wilson was in positions of leadership. Having imperfect people judging and vilifying 19th and early 20th century behavior by 21st century standards is neither realistic nor prudent.
"There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us."
7
So race still matters here, doesn't it. A lot.
Viz. this lovely thread, and in the NYT at that.
Viz. this lovely thread, and in the NYT at that.
5
Thank you for this excellent, clear op-ed. I learned something about Wilson and why a number of students at Princeton would like his name removed from university facilities. Those students are correct. I don't care what else he did that was good in office, a legacy of racism must not be allowed to pass without censure. We need to look harder at leaders from the past and stop celebrating certain people just because we always have done. Let the truth come to light. And when it does, act upon it.
11
Remove and rename Malcolm X Boulevard in Brooklyn because as a white person I am offended by it as he was an avowed racist. Ridiculous right? Of course it is.
Imagine the uproar from Black leaders and African Americans if heaven forbid someone complained. The other side never sees the hypocrisy in their view their rights ALWAYS trumps others.
History is history.
Imagine the uproar from Black leaders and African Americans if heaven forbid someone complained. The other side never sees the hypocrisy in their view their rights ALWAYS trumps others.
History is history.
4
The building in question is on a private college campus, where Wilson barred minority students. Comparing it to a public street in a city, named for a person who did not bar white students from admission at a college, nor terminate white people from government employment, seems like an extreme case of false equivalence.
3
I am having trouble following the timeline here. How old is the author of this article? Is he really talking about his great grandfather (rather than grandfather?)
His "grandfather" was born in 1862 and died in 1928. What year was his father born and what year was the author born?
His "grandfather" was born in 1862 and died in 1928. What year was his father born and what year was the author born?
1
I know a few people whose grandparents were born during the Civil War. Gordon Davis' grandfather probably has a child late in life who also had a child late in life. The author was born August 7, 1941.
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/gordon-j-davis
http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/gordon-j-davis
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center is a major federal building in downtown Washington, D.C. I propose renaming its "Wilson Plaza". I also propose renaming the "Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars" (a branch of the federal government's Smithsonian Institution) which is a tenant at the Reagan trade center. Thank you to the students whom are seeking to take Wilson's name off of Princeton University facilities.
I support the proposal to take Andrew Jackson's portrait off our money. He massacred American Indians, and putting his picture on our money would be equivalent to contemporary Germany placing Hitler's picture on its own money.
I cringed when the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial was dedicated in Washingon, in light of Roosevelt's imprisoning Japanese-Americans. Much of Roosevelt's pioneering social welfare legislation was created by Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins who disagreed with his decision to imprison the Japanese-Americans.
I support the proposal to take Andrew Jackson's portrait off our money. He massacred American Indians, and putting his picture on our money would be equivalent to contemporary Germany placing Hitler's picture on its own money.
I cringed when the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial was dedicated in Washingon, in light of Roosevelt's imprisoning Japanese-Americans. Much of Roosevelt's pioneering social welfare legislation was created by Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins who disagreed with his decision to imprison the Japanese-Americans.
1
I think Ronald Reagan's name should be taken off all government buildings.
1
The controversy over a building named for Wilson is a plus in discussing racism. However, the initial honoring of an individual by naming an institution after them loses its meaning over years. I attended Stuyvesant High School when most of the students were Jewish and Peter Stuyvesant was certainly no friend to Jews. We looked at the school's name as just a name rather than honoring someone that would want us expelled from the country. So is a name change called for? Honestly, I don't know.
I thank Mr. Davis for sharing his thoughts on the crazy sadness his grandfather must have felt when he was impersonally pushed aside, despite his life's work. I, for one, was not aware of Woodrow Wilson's level of racism, and as I get older I become more aware that the school history books I studied were very weird indeed.
Seen through a lense of 100 years, Wilson's meanness and cruelty is very apparent. Much, much more murky are the goings on today, driven by fear and anger to a form of righteousness that is very dangerous indeed.
Thank you, New York Times, for the article in today's paper about individual Syrian refugees in the Detroit area.
Seen through a lense of 100 years, Wilson's meanness and cruelty is very apparent. Much, much more murky are the goings on today, driven by fear and anger to a form of righteousness that is very dangerous indeed.
Thank you, New York Times, for the article in today's paper about individual Syrian refugees in the Detroit area.
8
To those who say that removing Wilson's name from a building is "erasing history": the claim is absurd, based on an unintelligent conflation of memorial with the historical record. History will not cease to record the fact of Woodrow Wilson's existence if Princeton renames the building.
To those who cry that our ancestors should not be "judged" by today's standards: this claim, too, is absurd, based on an unintelligent conflation of the person with the reputation. Princeton can remove Wilson's name from the building without "judging" the man; the removal is not a comment on who Wilson was, so much as it is a comment on what Princeton thinks it is, as an institution, in 2015. If the school wants to think of itself as an institution opposed to racial discrimination, I think its way forward is clear.
All memorials are absurd, and people who fail to realize that either have to suffer when the truth about their idols is exposed, or else hide behind their own ignorance; neither is an enviable fate.
To those who cry that our ancestors should not be "judged" by today's standards: this claim, too, is absurd, based on an unintelligent conflation of the person with the reputation. Princeton can remove Wilson's name from the building without "judging" the man; the removal is not a comment on who Wilson was, so much as it is a comment on what Princeton thinks it is, as an institution, in 2015. If the school wants to think of itself as an institution opposed to racial discrimination, I think its way forward is clear.
All memorials are absurd, and people who fail to realize that either have to suffer when the truth about their idols is exposed, or else hide behind their own ignorance; neither is an enviable fate.
9
The fact that the debates about what to do with Wilson at Princeton or whether to leave Jackson's likeness on money have been raised are laudable, whatever the outcome. Perhaps we should not apply today's standards to leaders in the past, but that clearly is an issue open for discussion.
Yes, all leaders, by virtue of the fact that they are human, are flawed, but it is easy to slip into the belief that because a man's picture is on currency or his name on a building, he must have been completely virtuous. The amnesia of whitewashing historical figures is dangerous in a democracy, because citizens are charged with balancing all the known facts about the people we elect to lead us. Balancing virtues and flaws in current candidates requires that we understand the bad as well as the good about the people who have led us in the past and what they accomplished in spite of their flaws. Some negatives we may choose to tolerate in those we elect in order to avail ourselves of their leadership in other areas; other deficiencies and weaknesses are so pernicious that no amount of balancing will overcome the damage that might be done if we allow those who exhibit them to occupy seats of power. Let the debate about continuing to honor leaders whose flaws are now irksome to our generally accepted democratic ideas continue. Whatever the resolution of the questions about revoking past honors bestowed, the debate is essential to our future.
Yes, all leaders, by virtue of the fact that they are human, are flawed, but it is easy to slip into the belief that because a man's picture is on currency or his name on a building, he must have been completely virtuous. The amnesia of whitewashing historical figures is dangerous in a democracy, because citizens are charged with balancing all the known facts about the people we elect to lead us. Balancing virtues and flaws in current candidates requires that we understand the bad as well as the good about the people who have led us in the past and what they accomplished in spite of their flaws. Some negatives we may choose to tolerate in those we elect in order to avail ourselves of their leadership in other areas; other deficiencies and weaknesses are so pernicious that no amount of balancing will overcome the damage that might be done if we allow those who exhibit them to occupy seats of power. Let the debate about continuing to honor leaders whose flaws are now irksome to our generally accepted democratic ideas continue. Whatever the resolution of the questions about revoking past honors bestowed, the debate is essential to our future.
65
No "perhaps" we should never take actions out of context of the period and circumstances. Do you support fire bombing cities of our enemies? It was routine in WWII, even cities not in Germany. How about that being a "war crime"?
True, Wilson was a bigot and perpetuated Jim Crow. No doubt. However, to remove him we may begin a slippery slope. Jefferson, Madison, & Washington harmed families by being slave holders. At the present moment, it is generally thought their good deeds overwhelm their bad, but matters could change.
While the removal of some symbols and names are clear, for example, the famous Selma bridge was named for a KKK 'hero,' the Confederate flag is an ongoing reminder of an odious form of life to a large number of our population and are clear cases where symbol removal is in order; some cases are not so clear. Does the name "Wilson" measure up? Is it really an ongoing symbol? It's a bit of a dangerous road we start down I suspect. At the moment the line may be drawn at Jefferson, removing Wilson blurs that line a bit. Dangerous, I think
Consider the ubiquitous Bellarmine Hall found on Catholic campuses. St. Bellarmine was an Inquisitor who advocated burning Giordano Bruno at the stake and forced Galleleo to repent. Should we remove Saint names from buildings if they participated in church 'trials' for people who denied the Earth's centrality in the solar system and burnt those deniers at the stake? I think that such would be another slippery slope.
By all means, study hitherto aspects of historical figures which have remained hidden. I would think it is always better to learn and remember those names and learn from and about them, than to stamp them from memory.
While the removal of some symbols and names are clear, for example, the famous Selma bridge was named for a KKK 'hero,' the Confederate flag is an ongoing reminder of an odious form of life to a large number of our population and are clear cases where symbol removal is in order; some cases are not so clear. Does the name "Wilson" measure up? Is it really an ongoing symbol? It's a bit of a dangerous road we start down I suspect. At the moment the line may be drawn at Jefferson, removing Wilson blurs that line a bit. Dangerous, I think
Consider the ubiquitous Bellarmine Hall found on Catholic campuses. St. Bellarmine was an Inquisitor who advocated burning Giordano Bruno at the stake and forced Galleleo to repent. Should we remove Saint names from buildings if they participated in church 'trials' for people who denied the Earth's centrality in the solar system and burnt those deniers at the stake? I think that such would be another slippery slope.
By all means, study hitherto aspects of historical figures which have remained hidden. I would think it is always better to learn and remember those names and learn from and about them, than to stamp them from memory.
82
You cannot force someone to "repent." You can, however, force Galileo to recant, which is what happened. However, according to legend, on his deathbed he said:"Eppur si muove," that is, "and yet it moves .... "
I wish I hadn't heard of this "saint". But now that I have, yes, let's stamp him from memory.
1
The answer to you question is, Yes. Bellarmine's name should be removed from everything and his "sainthood" should be taken away.
2
Wilson was a US president. He did good stuff and he did bad stuff, just like every other human being ever born. Going back and erasing his name will not feed one single hungry baby. It will not prevent one child from being gunned down in a gang war, and it will not even begin to remove the vestiges of institutional racism that continue to impact the lives of millions.
When these student protestors stop picking symbolic low hanging fruit and go after those problems in our society that cause hunger, violent death and poverty we will know they are serious people. Until then, they are just thinking of ways to say, "Hey, look at me."
When these student protestors stop picking symbolic low hanging fruit and go after those problems in our society that cause hunger, violent death and poverty we will know they are serious people. Until then, they are just thinking of ways to say, "Hey, look at me."
153
the statement, "go after those problems in our society that cause hunger, violent death and poverty", resembles very strongly, code words for "problems among black people that they bring upon themselves".
the generations of lost wealth of african american families since slavery as well as what is recounted in this piece doesn't just have repercussions for this generation, but rest assured it will continue to do so for some time to come. economic security begets all the other human virtues.
the students are not just saying, "hey, look at me", I actually did not know this history until they brought it to light.
the generations of lost wealth of african american families since slavery as well as what is recounted in this piece doesn't just have repercussions for this generation, but rest assured it will continue to do so for some time to come. economic security begets all the other human virtues.
the students are not just saying, "hey, look at me", I actually did not know this history until they brought it to light.
5
A) Wilson did "bad stuff" that far outweigh the "good stuff."
B) Removing Wilson's name may not directly feed a hungry baby, but it will remove a symbol of intolerance and exclusion from a gateway to achievement.
C) Students are under no obligation to comport with your notions of what projects are "low-hanging" fruit and what advocacy efforts are serious. Ask yourself what you've done to temper any of the social ills you've listed.
B) Removing Wilson's name may not directly feed a hungry baby, but it will remove a symbol of intolerance and exclusion from a gateway to achievement.
C) Students are under no obligation to comport with your notions of what projects are "low-hanging" fruit and what advocacy efforts are serious. Ask yourself what you've done to temper any of the social ills you've listed.
5
Not fair. It's time we hold up a mirror and face difficult truths about our great country's history. Until now it has been whitewashed (no pun intended). We accomplished great things, but we also embraced and continue to embrace policies that rob people of the chance to live up to their potential. We all need to be better educated to achieve a better future for all.
4
We might also be attentive to the century-long damage Wilson has done in intgernational affairs by his acquiesence to the Franco-British divison of the world into artificial nations to satisfey their respective colonial interests. As we struggle today with terror, partially engendered by those early 20th century decisions, we might logically ask why professional historians frequently rate Wilson (one of their own from academia) as a top 5 president.
2
What Jimmy Carter cost me. In his four years the price of housing DOUBLED. What Eisenhower and Truman cost some of my friends, their dads died in Korea, what Kennedy and Nixon cost my generation, the lives of many of my peers. Everyone has problems, brother.
4
Wow, I did not know Jimmy Carter was responsible for the incredible greed and irresponsible behavior of real estate investors. Thanks for setting us straight on that. And thanks for using specious, whiny rhetoric to trivialize someone else's terrible and unjust life experiences.
4
We all need to worry less about what our grandfathers did or had done to them and concern ourselves more with what our grand children will do and have done to them - lets focus on real changes not symbolic ones.
2
As long as we continue to hold grudges for things that happened over a hundred years ago racism will never end. When it becomes accepted that the racism is no longer directed from white to blacks but from black to whites racism will end. As long as immigrants from other countries come here and don't blend in but want us to change our laws racism will not end. There is some silly notion that whites only are racist. Blacks and any other group of people can be just as racist. A hundred years ago things were far different than they are now. We are not fixing them for going back and hoping some dead person will pay for his transactions.
4
Sure there is racism everywhere, from all races against all other races. The big difference between white racism and everybody else's, is that in this country white people have the entrenched positions of power to prevent those of other races from achieving respect and the same chance at a better life as they have. Read the article again...then name one white person in this country who has been humiliated in the fashion of this man's grandfather.
Personally I think racism will only end when we white folk collectively start owning up to it, instead of deflecting and pointing fingers at others. That includes recognizing what a disgusting and disgraceful part of our heritage it is.
Personally I think racism will only end when we white folk collectively start owning up to it, instead of deflecting and pointing fingers at others. That includes recognizing what a disgusting and disgraceful part of our heritage it is.
1
I can't understand your statement that racism is a black issue directed against white people. Studies have shown that black job applicants are less likely to be interviewed than white college grads with the same degree. They have also shown that black people are paid less than white people with equivalent educations, and that black people who are sentenced for crimes are sentenced to longer terms than their white counterparts. These are discrimation issues that are results of racism toward (not from) black people.
2
Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat, a progressive believer in Big Government, and a Warmonger who involved the U.S. In WWI unnecessarily - thus seeding the path for Hitler and WWII. Oh yes - he was also a big time Racist. He is a perfect demonstration of everything that is wrong with the power hungry autocrats that run this country as their fiefdom as they restrict the rights of the individual. Btw - these autocrats exist on both the so called "right" and "left".
1
Thank you for sharing your grandfather's story. As the history of African American's becomes revealed to European Americans, I am saddened to learn how much I did not know. At the same time, I am excited to learn the other side of the story. A very rich history exists that has been completely ignored by historians. We have a lot of history still to learn.
9
To Commenters: May we please have a civil discussion about an extremely important topic without resorting to name-calling (dolts, liar) or attacks (grow up!)? Racial issues must be openly discussed in the U.S., but our conversations can't accomplish anything if we treat each other disrespectfully.
7
For the record (and because I'm so tired of never reading this important addendum), George Washington FREED his slaves on his deathbed.
Wilson, more than a hundred years later, would never have done such an enlihgtened thing.
Wilson, more than a hundred years later, would never have done such an enlihgtened thing.
15
Rather than to edit him out of the university's history, how about telling the unedited story of his racism next to each plaque commemorating him? I am almost embarrassed to say that I, a fairly well educated person, did not know this about Wilson. My history education left a lot to be desired, for sure, but so did that of many others. If we want to enlighten people, why not add the factual database? Deleting his name doesn't accomplish much (well, maybe it'll make some of us feel better), while exposing in some detail (as does the opinion piece here) the truth about his racism will allow people to take their own measure of the man. Some will forgive him. Others, like me, will reassess.
28
The notion that "times were different then" doesn't hold water. Theodore Roosevelt de-segregated federal office buildings; Wilson came in afterwards and re-segregated them. Wilson was an outright racial bigot even by the standards of his own times. attitudes, behaviors, and pronouncements of "gentlemen" like him empowered the lynch mobs. Was Wilson in other respects a "progressive"? Of course he was. People are complicated. That doesn't excuse his vile racism.
608
Amen! "The times were different then" is the most pathetic of arguments! Integrity knows no time frame. Either you had it or you didn't. Woodrow didn't!
14
Wilson was pretty awful in more ways than one; the nation would have better served with TR in office after 1912 or Charles Evans Hughes after 1916. Edith Bolling Galt running the show after his stroke in 1919 was the kiss of death on his reputation as far as I'm concerned; his racism is a cherry on a rancid sundae.
7
Gratuitous acts of racism. What did Wilson gain from this obnoxious policy? Did it make him feel vindicated for his views, powerful because he could humiliate people? What did it achieve in the long run? A more segregated Washington DC? More inequal treatment, more poverty? With Donald Trump running around the country, making up past history, and threatening various groups on a daily basis, it is good to understand the past.
282
Maybe Donald Trump will take a cue from this.
Notwithstanding Woodrow's successful effort to deprive Mr. Davis's grandfather of his livelihood, he seems to have succeeded in preparing an excellent path for his grandson to follow. Good on Mr. Davis for remembering his grandfather and honoring him by calling attention to the outrages he suffered.
9
John Abraham Davis prospered under a generation of Republican Presidents. Then along came the original social engineering progressive Democrat.
7
Equating the Republicans and Democrats of the pre-New Deal America to the post-New Deal America shows an essential lack of understanding of American history. In 1912, Wilson came from the Southern, white-supremacist wing of the Democratic Party. After LBJ, the Southern white-supremacist vote moved from the Democrats to the Republican Party. This is not to say all Southerners are racists or that all Republicans are. Both groups are much bigger than that.
2
The Republican party of today is a unfortunately, very unfortunately not the party of those great men of the past. Wilson was a man of the South a racist South.
1
I never knew this and I'm sure there's a lot more history we whites don't know because it didn't affect us. More, please.
22
"...history we whites don't know..." please speak for yourself. If you want to know more, check out what LBJ thought about blacks. Did you know that FDR appointed a KKK member to the Supreme Court?
2
Stories like this are the brutal answer to racists' favorite (and pernicious) question: why can't those dern lazy blacks succeed like all the other races? Gee, if what little economic progress you make gets wiped out every time bigoted white power brokers decide they don't want you around or you've got "too much," how can you accumulate wealth and security? No amount of hard work, sacrifice, genius, or initiative can ever help you catch up after decades of this kind of sabotage.
10
The end of this story will not change. It is in the past. It is part of American history. Erasing an American President's name is not the answer to grievances. To make demands of this kind regarding American history is unacceptable and those in authority in situations of this kind must exercise that authority to protect the historical context of the United States. As a matter of fact this story pales alongside those that could be brought by the American Indian and their fate in our history. Lyndon B. Johnson and the laws to protect the civil rights of all Americans he led demonstrates that we, as a nation is not the place of the early 20th century. We have made great strides. If we are to continue to protect the rights of all Americans, we cannot be bullied into changing history as a feel-good response of any minority.
7
I don't think the Princeton students are asking us to change history. Instead, they are asking that we not blindly honor a man because of his accomplishments while sweeping the legacy of his bigotry under the rug. As a commentator above noted, Wilson's racism and bigotry was not just of his time. He swept away advances made by his predecessors. This article concerns the outcome of blatantly racist policies and actions that Wilson did not have to engage in, but he did. He was not a great president, nor a great man, he was blinded by bigotry.
2
JAW, it's not about "changing" history, it's about KNOWING our history and using that knowledge for good. We can't make Wilson's egregious racism disappear--it's a matter of record--but we don't have to venerate him either by naming buildings after him.
Similarly, the Confederate flag was (and is) a symbol of racism, of an attempt at establishing a country premised on slavery; we can't make the Confederate flag disappear from the history books and our personal memories, but we don't need to have it flying over public buildings.
Just as we are finally getting around to hauling down Confederate flags from state houses and other public structures, we can remove an avowed racist's name from university buildings.
See the point?
Similarly, the Confederate flag was (and is) a symbol of racism, of an attempt at establishing a country premised on slavery; we can't make the Confederate flag disappear from the history books and our personal memories, but we don't need to have it flying over public buildings.
Just as we are finally getting around to hauling down Confederate flags from state houses and other public structures, we can remove an avowed racist's name from university buildings.
See the point?
2
And FDR cost thousands of Jewish lives as he rejected ships carrying Jews across the Atlantic to escape Nazi Germany.
Do we no longer laud him for helping to fix the economy? Do we no longer acknowledge the impact he had on Social Security, the TVA, taking down Tammany Hall, and creating the New Deal?
Please. Just PLEASE. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Do we no longer laud him for helping to fix the economy? Do we no longer acknowledge the impact he had on Social Security, the TVA, taking down Tammany Hall, and creating the New Deal?
Please. Just PLEASE. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
185
It was our anti-Semitic State Department that was to blame for that one.
And as my father used to say, if Americans thought that they were going to war to save Jews, they'd never have fought, and the isolationists that Roosevelt had to battle even to get supplies to poor Rngland would have won the day.
And as my father used to say, if Americans thought that they were going to war to save Jews, they'd never have fought, and the isolationists that Roosevelt had to battle even to get supplies to poor Rngland would have won the day.
10
FDR caused the country to remain in the Depression for many years longer than it would have had it not been with his tampering.
"He who is without sin, let HIM cast the first stone" is probably what you were after.
"He who is without sin, let HIM cast the first stone" is probably what you were after.
FDR put Japanese americans in camps during WW2 with no trials
3
Americans with the most fundamental education have known MLK and JFK and Wilson were flawed - but in decades past we were able to humanize leaders, separating their flaws from their strengths. Nowadays we seem to want simplicity in honoring our heroes, and are unable to sit with complexity.
No one writing or commenting questions the complex fundamental reasons Americans name buildings, schools after Wilson or MLK or JFK or put up statues. It is only partially to remember and honor their legacy. The other reason is to hold them up as example for Americans to emulate, in which Wilson may now prove less worthy, because racist events today do matter when you're searching for leaders to emulate. Trustees also named the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in the hope that Wilson's values would be transferred to the institution and understood by those who participate in its programming and consume its wisdom. By associating Wilson's racist policies with the school's stated mission of the school, the student protesters have already questioned whether transferring those values in today's climate will help or hurt the mission of the school. I think That is a reasonable question to ask. So yes- have a statue to Wilson as a remembrance of his legacy at Princeton and his work for international peace, but don't hold him up as an unqualified hero for emulation today, and think hard over whether his name should continue to be carried on a school of public affairs.
No one writing or commenting questions the complex fundamental reasons Americans name buildings, schools after Wilson or MLK or JFK or put up statues. It is only partially to remember and honor their legacy. The other reason is to hold them up as example for Americans to emulate, in which Wilson may now prove less worthy, because racist events today do matter when you're searching for leaders to emulate. Trustees also named the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in the hope that Wilson's values would be transferred to the institution and understood by those who participate in its programming and consume its wisdom. By associating Wilson's racist policies with the school's stated mission of the school, the student protesters have already questioned whether transferring those values in today's climate will help or hurt the mission of the school. I think That is a reasonable question to ask. So yes- have a statue to Wilson as a remembrance of his legacy at Princeton and his work for international peace, but don't hold him up as an unqualified hero for emulation today, and think hard over whether his name should continue to be carried on a school of public affairs.
125
The MLK and JFK flaws were personal, although they may have affected their effectiveness in some situations. As Mr. Davis so emphatically illustrates Wilson's flaw had serious, direct adverse political/social effects on individuals and society. Big difference.
5
We can forgive human flaws of character in human feelings like adultery, but in intellectual matters like slavery or anti-Semitism there is no forgiveness.
1
In the authoritative book on non-judicial truth seeking "Unspeakable Truths" (Routledge, 2010), Priscilla Hayner asks leaders of countries who have suffered the worst state-sponsored crimes the fundamental question: "Do you want to remember or forget?" That is, should the past be acknowledged and apologized for? The essence of truth and reconciliation efforts is to establish and acknowledge the facts of what happened so that society can move forward from terrible injustice. The Woodrow Wilson School, if it wants to preserve its integrity and brand, must "remember", acknowledge and use this as an educational opportunity for all, in honor of Gordon Davis' grandfather.
8
While you are at it, removing names of racist Democrats from positions of honor, let's not forget Robert Byrd.
4
Isn't it legitimate to reassess historical figures, in light of progress we have made towards our country's ideals? Of course, they were imperfect people who lived in other times, and often we will feel their accomplishments and insights far outweigh their flaws and mistakes.
But can't we sometimes decide someone's legacy is too troubling to hold up and honor? Or are we bound forever to the judgements of an earlier time?
But can't we sometimes decide someone's legacy is too troubling to hold up and honor? Or are we bound forever to the judgements of an earlier time?
8
Despicable. I knew Wilson was a racist. Of this behavior I was unaware. Thank you for making it known.
12
If Wilson's policies would have been openminded and not racist, the trajectory of countless black lives may have indeed been very, different and that our entire 20th century struggle with race and prejudice may have also taken an extremely different path. Men of great intent, however, are severely limited by the knowledge and perspective of their time.
With 20/20 vision from our 21st-century perch we see the fallacies of past thinking. Of course it is no secret now, that this prejudiced mindset clearly hobbled and limited perfectly intelligent, capable and talented men and women who could have undoubtedly made a big difference in our historical path. It is the lost potential that is the sad part to this story. All of us, black and white, need to open our eyes to who we are now and embrace that potential with both self-respect as well as the respect of others. Keeping the mindset of being persecuted and downtrodden will never lift anyone up to their highest potential - as excuses are rarely ever steppingstones to success. Our most notable leaders have been flawed men men, and so are each of us. Rather than beat up the past and dissect it with our 21st century self-righteous view point, is to learn from all our mistakes, allow the present and future to benefit from the knowledge of these mistakes and realize that indeed, all men were created equal, and that is, after all, the point to this entire story.
With 20/20 vision from our 21st-century perch we see the fallacies of past thinking. Of course it is no secret now, that this prejudiced mindset clearly hobbled and limited perfectly intelligent, capable and talented men and women who could have undoubtedly made a big difference in our historical path. It is the lost potential that is the sad part to this story. All of us, black and white, need to open our eyes to who we are now and embrace that potential with both self-respect as well as the respect of others. Keeping the mindset of being persecuted and downtrodden will never lift anyone up to their highest potential - as excuses are rarely ever steppingstones to success. Our most notable leaders have been flawed men men, and so are each of us. Rather than beat up the past and dissect it with our 21st century self-righteous view point, is to learn from all our mistakes, allow the present and future to benefit from the knowledge of these mistakes and realize that indeed, all men were created equal, and that is, after all, the point to this entire story.
59
Ok but there were plenty of non-racists back then, too!
1
removing his name from buildings and reducing his reputation........based on this
info which, to me is a shocking revelation........is the LEAST we can do to show that history IS important and CAN have current meaning.
info which, to me is a shocking revelation........is the LEAST we can do to show that history IS important and CAN have current meaning.
2
An excuse is different from a reason. In the case of this grandfather and his civil service peers, Wilson's purge clearly was the reason for the financial and personal ruin that befell them.
3
This isn't a question of whether a person should be included in history. It'seems a question of whether to venerate.
The argument that "times were different," is on the whole inaccurate. Wilson rolled back decades of advancements made by blacks. At Princeton, no black was admitted during Wilson's tenure at a time when Harvard and Yale had been doing it for decades.
Wilson did not just harbor personal prejudice against blacks, he was an active, overt racist who, when given the levels of power, sought to harm blacks for no I there reason than the color of their skin. I can't and won't venerate Wilson. If it were put to a popular vote, I'd vote to remove his name from the school and college. He also made racist decisions at Versailles that had negative consequences for generations.
The argument that "times were different," is on the whole inaccurate. Wilson rolled back decades of advancements made by blacks. At Princeton, no black was admitted during Wilson's tenure at a time when Harvard and Yale had been doing it for decades.
Wilson did not just harbor personal prejudice against blacks, he was an active, overt racist who, when given the levels of power, sought to harm blacks for no I there reason than the color of their skin. I can't and won't venerate Wilson. If it were put to a popular vote, I'd vote to remove his name from the school and college. He also made racist decisions at Versailles that had negative consequences for generations.
693
And let's not forget how much he loved Birth of a Nation
5
Well said. Though I am often skeptical of politically correct movements in our universities today (which is a problem in its own right, free speech being the most fundamental ingredient of liberty and progressivism), your summary is clear headed and concisely stated.
I have been shocked to learn the degree of racism which Wilson not only believed but put into practice. By all means let his positive achievements continue to be taught and appreciated, but his misdeeds and bigotry deserve equal mention. And regardless of his achievements, no one who actively practiced bigotry on the scale that he did deserves to have his name on buildings, especially in an institution of the magnitude and reputation of Princeton.
Thankfully current Princeton students and faculty seem ready to rectify the situation and I applaud them for that. This is not political correctness; it is simply recognition that bigots are not heroes no matter what heights they may otherwise achieve in their lives.
I have been shocked to learn the degree of racism which Wilson not only believed but put into practice. By all means let his positive achievements continue to be taught and appreciated, but his misdeeds and bigotry deserve equal mention. And regardless of his achievements, no one who actively practiced bigotry on the scale that he did deserves to have his name on buildings, especially in an institution of the magnitude and reputation of Princeton.
Thankfully current Princeton students and faculty seem ready to rectify the situation and I applaud them for that. This is not political correctness; it is simply recognition that bigots are not heroes no matter what heights they may otherwise achieve in their lives.
7
Then by that standard as a Jew I'd like to see FDR's name removed from all Federal, State institutions and programs as well. The man did nothing to save the lives of millions in the camps when he knew were they were and what they were doing. Not one bomb was dropped to stop the trains not one soldier was tasked to save those people. We set up a whole special taskforce "the Monuments men" to save art though. No, we can't use today's standards to judge these men it's not fair. It's a form of revisionist history that has no end and is harmful. As much as I disdain FDR for his failures I still acknowledge his greatness in many other ways. Such is as it should be with Wilson as well. When it came to race he had a blind side an even racist side ( he was a Southerner in that way.) That doesn't IMHO take awy from the other good things he represented. If we are to use the standard you want Lincoln has to go as well. He was an avowed racist as well. Let Wilson's name stand don't go down this road it has no end.
1
Changing the name of of a building/school/office does not change history. It just reflects change in our way of thinking. I'm all for it.
331
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" -- it won't end well. some want to pretend that our country has no history but it is important to remember that even great men have great flaws.
Let's make merit, opportunity and free speech our guiding lights and stop trying to pretend that only perfect people get to play a roll in our history.
Let's make merit, opportunity and free speech our guiding lights and stop trying to pretend that only perfect people get to play a roll in our history.
our thinking has already changed....michelle Obama is a Princeton grad
Yes - and it also let's our contemporaries know that even though they may have secured some sort of legacy today, their entire body of work/beliefs/actions will and can be re-examined. So ensure that you "do the right thing" because eventually it all comes out.
The most important takeaway from the op-ed and other articles on Woodrow Wilson's racism Is the fact he was Democrat. The Democrats need to confront and own up to their racist past.
4
Hey SB: How easily you forget that until the 'Regan Revolution' in the 80's that most southern boys like yourself were DEMOCRATS because of the hatred of the Republicans (re: Lincoln's freeing of the slaves); kinda like you and the other 'Repubs' now would have supported that? Here is the best way to answer that: were your grandparents (and those before them) D or R? It's just that the script flipped - just sayn....
3
I first heard of Wilson's racism (never in history class, of course) in a radio interview with Thurgood Marshall. He was talking about his own experiences as a young lawyer, and somehow got around to the Wilsons. He focused on Edith, Woodrow's wife, and I recall his opprobrious remarks about the vileness of her racism. Seems it was a family trait. Coupled with our growing knowledge of George Washington's possessive and abusive attitude toward his slaves and Jefferson's "liasons" with his wife's cousin, we are taking a hard look at our heroes and at who we were and are.
4
What is it with the wives? Eleanor Roosevelt 's wife was an awful and active anti-Semite.
1
So what do we do for an encore? Do we propose yanking Donald Trump's name off Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue because GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been saying some politically incorrect things on the campaign trail???
Yeah, that would be a good start.
2
You're comparing oranges and apples here.
@Sharon5101 Trump's tacky towers are not public buildings nor instututes of higher learning. These emblems of greed will come down, not due to a public outcry at this vulgarians utterances, but at his egregious taste- they will be "victims' in due course to New york City's continual rebuilding. They are not Grand Central Stations.
However calling Mexicans " rapists and murderers" simply a "politically incorrect" statement is like calling Kristallnacht "urban renewal".
Trump is a racist and should be called on it.
Thank-you Mr. Davis for underlining again how racism has crippled our society.
However calling Mexicans " rapists and murderers" simply a "politically incorrect" statement is like calling Kristallnacht "urban renewal".
Trump is a racist and should be called on it.
Thank-you Mr. Davis for underlining again how racism has crippled our society.
I agree that Wilson was a despicable racist. But I strongly disagree with his description as "a progressive, internationalist statesman, a benign and wise leader, a father of modern American political science and one of our nation’s great presidents". He was actually a neo-con, before that term was invented. He caused the deaths of over 100,000 Americans (and severe war injuries to over 200,000 Americans) by bringing the United States into a world war for no good reason. None of the nations of the Central Powers had attacked the United States.
His philosophy was that it was the responsibility and duty of the United States to spread democracy around the world. He was the opposite of wise, and one of the worst presidents in American history. More so for his being a blatant racist.
Princeton University should erase his name from all of its schools and buildings.
His philosophy was that it was the responsibility and duty of the United States to spread democracy around the world. He was the opposite of wise, and one of the worst presidents in American history. More so for his being a blatant racist.
Princeton University should erase his name from all of its schools and buildings.
9
The damage done by Woodrow Wilson to the federal workforce began to be undone in 1941 when Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination in the federal government and the national defense industry. Beginning in the 1960s, affirmative action programs and the creation of equal opportunity offices increased black employment in the federal workforce. Today, African Americans, who make up about 13 percent of the population, make up about 18 percent of the federal workforce.
9
So the armed forces were integrated under FDR?
As a great uncle to three beautiful and playful and warm hearted African American children I find myself concerned with the ease with which racism rears its ugly head. To be reminded of the disgraceful and even horrifying reality that our political leaders were slave holders and racists is not only important. It is imperative. It also empowers those with African American heritage to know that we stand with them in their efforts to call out racism in all it manifestations.
Our Nation has also disgracefully treated our Native American brethren. One of my sons in law is a descendant of a tribe he will not acknowledge nor discuss. He remains quietly enraged at the simmering racism that can so easily erupt.
I am the grandson of an impoverished Dutch immigrant who found an opportunity to work and raise his family in a country open to the contributions of immigrants. One of his two sons went to Harvard the other to Clark University who later became an advisor to Nixon who was about to challenge our alienation from China.
We are a multicultural, multinational Nation with ties to countries throughout the world. Without embracing our international brethren from around the world and working together with them we will perish in the holocaust of radical Islam that cannot tolerate diversity.
Michael Jackson sang it well, "We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day...send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares."
Our Nation has also disgracefully treated our Native American brethren. One of my sons in law is a descendant of a tribe he will not acknowledge nor discuss. He remains quietly enraged at the simmering racism that can so easily erupt.
I am the grandson of an impoverished Dutch immigrant who found an opportunity to work and raise his family in a country open to the contributions of immigrants. One of his two sons went to Harvard the other to Clark University who later became an advisor to Nixon who was about to challenge our alienation from China.
We are a multicultural, multinational Nation with ties to countries throughout the world. Without embracing our international brethren from around the world and working together with them we will perish in the holocaust of radical Islam that cannot tolerate diversity.
Michael Jackson sang it well, "We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day...send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares."
6
By all means, if it's that important. If it diminishes by one iota the racism that still exists. If it makes Princeton a more hospitable environment for black students, faculty, and staff. Seriously.
But why stop there? Princeton has long been known as the most "Southern" of all the Ivy League universities. A Southerner myself, I attended Princeton from 1979-83. I was admitted notwithstanding the fact that my ancestors owned slaves. My mother's great-grandfather fought at Gettysburg. My paternal great-grandfather, a Presbyterian minister, once wrote a pamphlet arguing that there are biblical grounds for holding that black people do not have souls. (He later recanted and apologized.)
From 1913 to 1921, during Wilson's presidency, there were almost 500 documented lynchings of black people in the United States. The vast majority of these in my native South, of course. It was a horrible time — to read an account of a lynching is to put one's soul at jeopardy, because the details would fill any decent person with rage — and as everyone knows, it saw a large exodus of black families from the South to the North.
In meaningful ways, my family of former slaveowners and Jim-Crow beneficiaries was complicit in all that, even if none ever participated in a lynching or joined the KKK. And somewhere at Princeton there is a copy of my senior thesis. In the registrar's office is a record of my classes and the awarding of my A.B. degree. Expunge me, too, if it would help. Seriously.
But why stop there? Princeton has long been known as the most "Southern" of all the Ivy League universities. A Southerner myself, I attended Princeton from 1979-83. I was admitted notwithstanding the fact that my ancestors owned slaves. My mother's great-grandfather fought at Gettysburg. My paternal great-grandfather, a Presbyterian minister, once wrote a pamphlet arguing that there are biblical grounds for holding that black people do not have souls. (He later recanted and apologized.)
From 1913 to 1921, during Wilson's presidency, there were almost 500 documented lynchings of black people in the United States. The vast majority of these in my native South, of course. It was a horrible time — to read an account of a lynching is to put one's soul at jeopardy, because the details would fill any decent person with rage — and as everyone knows, it saw a large exodus of black families from the South to the North.
In meaningful ways, my family of former slaveowners and Jim-Crow beneficiaries was complicit in all that, even if none ever participated in a lynching or joined the KKK. And somewhere at Princeton there is a copy of my senior thesis. In the registrar's office is a record of my classes and the awarding of my A.B. degree. Expunge me, too, if it would help. Seriously.
132
Thanks for your honesty.
1
Clearly the money, time and effort spent on your Princeton education was entirely wasted.
It appears that Princeton has a better caliber of students today than it did when you were there.
It appears that Princeton has a better caliber of students today than it did when you were there.
4
Nobody is suggesting expunging anyone for what his ancestors did.
2
Why not leave the name of the school in place, but include a permanent exhibition that shows this part of Wilson's history, as well as the good parts? I think what people object to is the sanitized nature of this history, that you wouldn't know from looking at the school that this was a part of Wilson's legacy.
I am surprised by the hostile tone of some commenters. Just because what happened to Mr. Davis's grandfather so long ago occurred when times and viewpoints were different doesn't make it any less reprehensible. And that it was initiated by the President is a shameful part of our history that needs to be confronted and acknowledged. The Princeton students deserve credit for that.
I am surprised by the hostile tone of some commenters. Just because what happened to Mr. Davis's grandfather so long ago occurred when times and viewpoints were different doesn't make it any less reprehensible. And that it was initiated by the President is a shameful part of our history that needs to be confronted and acknowledged. The Princeton students deserve credit for that.
687
Hostile folks don't want to know the truth. They resent any fact that disturbs their simplisitic "America was great all the time" myths.
10
We are repeated admonished to judge people by the standards of their times, not our time. By that standard, Wilson's egregious acts still stand out. We should compare him with Theodore Roosevelt, who appointed black postmasters in the south and had Booker T. Washington as his dinner guest in the White House, and compare him with his much maligned successor, Warren G. Harding, who tried to do what he could to protect the rights of black citizens. Wilson in an important historical figure, but in no way should he be honored.
19
...because leaving the name in place is a constant reminder to students of color that "we really don't want you here, but if you somehow gain access you must conform to a white-supremacist social order."
15
I don't know if the name should be changed. I can see both sides of that argument. Nobody's perfect. But I don't agree that this is just old news about Wilson. Maybe for historians. I, for one, am a fairly well educated person who did not know this shameful history, brought to life so vividly in this column. I appreciate the learning, and thank those who have brought this information to a wider public.
944
I agree with you. I was not fully aware of this part of President Wilson's legacy. I am proud of our young university students for bringing injustice to our attention.
20
Public affairs is my field as an academic, and I didn't know this, either. That he used the highest office in the land to promote racist public administration is a reason for serious doubt about whether a prestigious professional school that educates and prepares students for public service should honor him.
22
Also news to me. However imperfection in one's personal life is different than, as noted, restructuring a national system that ignores our laws and denies generations of Americans their right to compete and prosper.
19
I comment again, since this is an important issue. Ours is a nation of mixed record: the world's first true republic of grand scope, the inventor of modern democracy, a source of great and positive global change. But yes, as Lincoln observed, we were born with the original sin of slavery....and we occupied a continent at the expense of the native peoples in it. So for several centuries, this was a successful and expanding and democratic nation of....white people. And the rest were the refuse of history. Many of our nation's historic heroes were implicated in this, because WE (our ancestors) were part of it and drove it as a people. You can't erase those leaders without erasing us, because we elected them. This nation has done great things...and in the 20th century it saved the world from totalitarianism and it continues to underpin whatever dwindling stability we have on the planet. But yes, America was partially built on the bodies of slaves and Indians. Would it not be easier to admit where we came from, but also to recognize the heroes who made us (while forgiving them as men of their time) and then to move on and try to be better?
241
Just because it's history doesn't mean we have to honor those racists who did unconscionable things. There were also many other people living during that same period who were not racists and who worked to make this nation a more just and honorable place, actually upholding the ideals of our constitution. It's important that we know and are aware of all the history of this nation, not just the "pretty' parts that make Americans feel good. We simply cannot condone honoring bigots like Wilson any more than we can continue to ignore the harmful effects of names, including the names of streets, bridges and football teams that not so subtly promote white supremacy. https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-remove-woodrow-wilson-s-name-from-...
9
I don't think it's reasonable to imply that America single-handedly saved the world from totalitarianism. There were those little matters of Stalingrad and Moscow (ironic, isn't it?). Besides, if Japan hadn't foolishly attacked America, the US might have continued to sit out the war on the sidelines: before Pearl Harbor, we had brave young Americans running off to Canada so they could fight the Nazis. Yes, a mixed record, indeed.
6
We are not the "World's first true republic of grand scope." That is only true if you're a privileged White male. Everyone else had to fight to get any recognition, and must keep fighting to avoid being repressed.
8
I'm very glad the author made me aware of these facets of Wilson's life but they aren't his only achievement.
Let's consider the case of General Custer in contrast. He is mainly remembered for the Indian wars and history has not been kind. This is appropriate because it was his life's main achievement. In contrast Wilson is remembered for other things which apparently balance out the racist attitudes which were (sadly) widespread among white southerners of that time. Like all of us he was ahead of his times in some areas and not in others.
I'm very glad the author made me aware of these facets of Wilson's life tut they aren't his only achievement.
Courage and vision are found in confronting today's injustices. It takes neither to beat up on a president who has been dead for almost 100 years.
Let's consider the case of General Custer in contrast. He is mainly remembered for the Indian wars and history has not been kind. This is appropriate because it was his life's main achievement. In contrast Wilson is remembered for other things which apparently balance out the racist attitudes which were (sadly) widespread among white southerners of that time. Like all of us he was ahead of his times in some areas and not in others.
I'm very glad the author made me aware of these facets of Wilson's life tut they aren't his only achievement.
Courage and vision are found in confronting today's injustices. It takes neither to beat up on a president who has been dead for almost 100 years.
2
I'm reminded of the scene in "The Ten Commandments" in which Sir Cedric Hardwicke, as pharaoh, banishes Moses. "Let the name of Moses be stricken from all books and tablets, all obelisks and monuments. Let the name of Moses be heard no more". Maybe it's a silly reference , but, minus the dramatic drum rolls, isn't that similar to what's happening here?
4
No. You are exaggerating. They just want to rename a building, not strip Wilson from history books.
Move on from your outrage.
Move on from your outrage.
4
Evaluating Wilson's actions exemplifies the dilemma imposed on us by the past. If we view our ancestors through the lens created by today's values, few will appear worthy of our admiration. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison all owned slaves. Lincoln exhibited traces of the racial prejudice common in his day. FDR ordered the internment of Japanese Americans for the crime of sharing the genes of our enemies.
Each of these men, however, also played a major role in the creation or preservation of our nation, its system of government and its central political ideals. In so doing, they helped lay the foundations for the more humane society we have become, with values that encourage us to look askance at them. So, which do we focus on, their very real shortcomings or their equally real contributions to the creation of the nation we celebrate today?
It might help us to answer this question if we compare these men to another ancestor who, although admired by many in his lifetime, pursued goals which other Americans then and virtually all of us now, judge harmful to the national welfare. Jefferson Davis, although a man of personal integrity, led a rebellion whose purpose was to break up the Union and preserve slavery.
Perhaps the best approach would be to weigh the sum total of an individual's actions against their impact on the nation. We cannot evaluate Wilson's presidency based on one policy. We need to look at the whole picture, and then reach a conclusion.
Each of these men, however, also played a major role in the creation or preservation of our nation, its system of government and its central political ideals. In so doing, they helped lay the foundations for the more humane society we have become, with values that encourage us to look askance at them. So, which do we focus on, their very real shortcomings or their equally real contributions to the creation of the nation we celebrate today?
It might help us to answer this question if we compare these men to another ancestor who, although admired by many in his lifetime, pursued goals which other Americans then and virtually all of us now, judge harmful to the national welfare. Jefferson Davis, although a man of personal integrity, led a rebellion whose purpose was to break up the Union and preserve slavery.
Perhaps the best approach would be to weigh the sum total of an individual's actions against their impact on the nation. We cannot evaluate Wilson's presidency based on one policy. We need to look at the whole picture, and then reach a conclusion.
61
In the case of Wilson, you can't logically claim that "we are view[ing] our ancestors through the lens created by today's values," in judging his policies towards African-Americans harshly. He overturned EXISTING federal employment policies--policies that hundreds of federal workers were able to live with, evidently-- to turn back the clock.
17
My conclusion is he ripped apart opportunities for many families to establish themselves and secure their financial futures. Using your argument is like saying "well, hitler had great organization skills and his zeal although misplaced, has better positioned Jews in our global economy ". That's ridiculous right? So is the notion that Wilson and his counterparts should be measured for "the good" they done.
92
Racism is often subtle, pervasive, and powerful. We whites tend to look for the Archie Bunker types who spew caricature-like "truths" about "the other," but more often the racism is hidden in falsehoods ("he is too slow"). This story is appalling, but likely all too common both in that era and today. Study after study continues to show that when identical resumes are sent one with a 'white sounding' name and one with a 'black sounding' name, the latter gets much less positive response. We may continue to make some improvements, but we are far from where we should be.
The students at Princeton and elsewhere remind me of some of the movement of the 1960s. It is sad to realize that close to 50 years latter such demonstrations and demands are still necessary. How frustrating it must be. "Progress" has been made, but each individual has only one life-time. Many have grown up and grown old in 50 years; many more have died - and still demonstrations are needed. Shame on us.
The students at Princeton and elsewhere remind me of some of the movement of the 1960s. It is sad to realize that close to 50 years latter such demonstrations and demands are still necessary. How frustrating it must be. "Progress" has been made, but each individual has only one life-time. Many have grown up and grown old in 50 years; many more have died - and still demonstrations are needed. Shame on us.
90
Since you've been named as one of the NY Times influential bloggers may be you can answer this question: if Woodrow Wilson is given the bums rush out of Princeton how does that solve anything?
5
Awesome!
Sorry, but I'm not participating in collective guilt based on immoral actions taking place 102 years ago. Let's fix today's racial problems; there are more than enough of them. Chasing down a long dead president is a ridiculous diversion from what we should be doing TODAY.
2
Actually it's very well known that Wilson was an avowed racist from the South whose father fought in the civil war. This is not news. The problem with all these politically correct statue removal campaigns is where does it end? George Washington and Jefferson were slave holders who I'm sure weren't always treated perfectly so presumably their memorials in Washington would be due for the removal under this criteria. New faces on bank notes?
120
It's very well known? It's not news? I attended Monmouth College in New Jersey, now Monmouth University, and most of my classes took place in Woodrow Wilson Hall, which was Wilson's summer White House. (It is also where the first movie, Annie, was filmed.) I never knew any of this. And that was in the '70s. The only way to make sure people continue to be aware of history is to continue discussing it, passing it on, from generation to generation. While none of us is perfect, we must continue to discuss the past to keep from repeating it.
11
Just because Wilson's history is well known to some, doesn't mean it is well known to all. I am just learning about Wilson's racist past now, because of this public discussion. The discussion is happening at a time when more people are speaking more openly about things that are wrong in society that haven't been aired publically in the past. It is not appropriate to tell people to shut up and don't discuss just because somebody else already chewed it over.
14
Perhaps Wilson's racism is well known to you, and I congratulate you for it. However, I have a Ph.D. and never heard this side of the story, which I think is very important and deserves, no, NEEDS to be shared. SO many people have drunk the Kool-Aid for so-called American exceptionalism. Perhaps this would not change their minds, but it might at least be a data point worth adding to the bigger picture. The anguish and humiliation experienced by Mr. Davis was heartbreaking. Can't you see where undiluted adulation of Wilson at Princeton continues to cause pain to African American college students? All they are asking for is to be heard, to be included in the story of American history.
9
As a Princeton graduate and one who lived in Wilson College, I support open discussion and action. This is not being politically correct, it is about truth in our nation's history. If that truth changes our veneration for individuals so be it. After all the Princeton motto is "In the Nation's Service" I believe at that time blacks were part of the nation..
352
@ Daniel Salazar
In fact far from supporting open discussion you're attempting to sanitize US history. As a Princeton alumni you must have been familiar with Wilson's background which is very well known and it didn't cause you to move to another university. The past has be judged on its own terms, not upon the basis of 21st century sensibilities.
In fact far from supporting open discussion you're attempting to sanitize US history. As a Princeton alumni you must have been familiar with Wilson's background which is very well known and it didn't cause you to move to another university. The past has be judged on its own terms, not upon the basis of 21st century sensibilities.
91
What Next? Burn/ban his books not because of their content but because of his private views?
Hail Big Brother, newspeak, and 1984! With a bit of Farenheit 451 tossed in.
Hail Big Brother, newspeak, and 1984! With a bit of Farenheit 451 tossed in.
4
John, I'm a Princeton alum ... and I hadn't a clue about Woodrow Wilson and his bigoted perspective while I matriculated. It is only now that I am learning about it. Be careful how you stereotype ...
6
Glenn Beck must be grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of Woodrow Wilson getting his name taken down from such a place of honor at Princeton. No one hates Woodrow Wilson more than Glenn Beck.
17
Sounds well-deserved.
And? A stopped clock is right twice a day.
3
You may not know, Mr. Davis, that Abraham Lincoln, in 1858, gave a speech in which he exposed singulary racist views. Look it up.
Should we obliterate his name from Lincoln Center?
Should we obliterate his name from Lincoln Center?
53
If need be.
Big difference. Lincoln changed and made significant changes that positively affected African-Americans. Wilson destroyed African-American lives. This was already well-known in Wilson's time. He undid the positive works in this regard of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. And if there is one way in which Warren Harding is better than Wilson, it was in their view of race and merit.
It does not mean that I necessarily support removing Wilson's name from buildings and institutions or removing any statues. It is just to state that Wilson was severely flawed individual in his own time, never mind our time.
It does not mean that I necessarily support removing Wilson's name from buildings and institutions or removing any statues. It is just to state that Wilson was severely flawed individual in his own time, never mind our time.
5
He may have, but actions are so much more important, don't you think?
2
Time for the author to read up on his history. Wilson's flaws have been already been confronted. He was also the President of the United States. You don't get to wipe people from history because they weren't perfect.
Grow up.
Grow up.
85
Taking Wilson's name off of a few buildings would hardly wipe him from history. In fact, it would be the outcome of acknowledging history.
8
"Grow up?!" What a rude response to Mr. Davis, whose own family was deeply injured by Wilson's policy of re-segregation in federal employment. I don't think you bothered to really read the article or reflect on its contents.
24
Being a hard core racist who actively promoted oppressing millions of Americans is not a lack of being 'perfect', it is execrable. Wilson did many great things but, even in those less than perfect times, he took the side of hate and racism. That behavior deserves to be called out for what it is. No one wants to wipe Wilson from history, just stop honoring him as a role model. Your comment absolves racism and is beyond sad.
17
So this is what we are going to do now? Start erasing our history which, after all, shows that many of our presidents have "evolved" in their thinking and their positions. Each figure from our history should be judged fairly using everything we know about them and the times in which they lived. Do we take George Washington and Thomas Jefferson out of our history books, too? Or worse, do we start portraying the father of our country as a racist?
37
Yes! Wrong is wrong! A thief is a thief . So you now want to absolve the third reich eh! So wy go after war criminals. Justice does not end with going to jail. It really starts with revisiting one sided histories.
50
No one is saying take anyone out of history books. By all means keep them in, just tell the full truth about them. And, please take their namesite down from places of veneration.
12
TS.
Let's not run away with silly and inept comparisons. We are discussing a man who contributed greatly to his country and state, though, yes, clearly he should be criticized for racist beliefs and consequent actions. Comparisons of him to and bringing in any mention of the "third reich" is way out of bounds for a reasonable discussion.
Doing so makes me wonder if you know the actuality of the singular barbarity of the third reich in history. Your linkage is specious at best.
Let's not run away with silly and inept comparisons. We are discussing a man who contributed greatly to his country and state, though, yes, clearly he should be criticized for racist beliefs and consequent actions. Comparisons of him to and bringing in any mention of the "third reich" is way out of bounds for a reasonable discussion.
Doing so makes me wonder if you know the actuality of the singular barbarity of the third reich in history. Your linkage is specious at best.
4
Editing people out? More like editing their full story in. White people in the US still don't want to confront and recognize the damage of racism, be it yesterday or today.
457
Demanding that his name be removed from university facilities is editing out.
26
Another sweeping statement..."white people in the US..." connotes ALL white people in the US. So much for having a fair, constructive dialogue about race.
22
Demanding that his name be removed from university facilities is refusing to HONOR him. He is still in the books, the history of Princeton, and the history of this country, not edited out.
But isn't it legitimate to reassess his mixed legacy, in light of progress we have made towards our country's ideals, and decide that legacy is too troubling to hold up and honor?
But isn't it legitimate to reassess his mixed legacy, in light of progress we have made towards our country's ideals, and decide that legacy is too troubling to hold up and honor?
23
May I applaud Joshua Schwartz for his most thoughtful comment here a few below mine. I think he states our dilemma well. Few human beings are unblemished, and above all few politicians are unblemished, since they ultimately are mirrors of a democratic people, with all the flaws of that electorate.
We hope those politicians rise in some ways above that, which is to say we hope they rise above us! Woodrow Wilson was a racist...no doubt about it. But so were the American people who elected him. Did he do great and progressive things? Yes, he did, and the country (including for African Americans) is better for it. So his record is mixed, but so is the record of virtually every human being who has tread the earth. For those of them who did at least some good, I think we should be forgiving if they failed because they typically reflected the times/attitudes in which they lived.
We hope those politicians rise in some ways above that, which is to say we hope they rise above us! Woodrow Wilson was a racist...no doubt about it. But so were the American people who elected him. Did he do great and progressive things? Yes, he did, and the country (including for African Americans) is better for it. So his record is mixed, but so is the record of virtually every human being who has tread the earth. For those of them who did at least some good, I think we should be forgiving if they failed because they typically reflected the times/attitudes in which they lived.
43
I don't agree that all should be forgiven. If you have a brain, you can learn to use it. Certainly Wilson had a brain. And in this case he chose to use it badly, and he must have known what he was doing. That was evil.
42
Melda,
YOUR brain lies in 2015. Wilson's brain existed in 1915. There is one century's difference. To expect him to think like you, in your infinite wisdom, is a severe mistake.
YOUR brain lies in 2015. Wilson's brain existed in 1915. There is one century's difference. To expect him to think like you, in your infinite wisdom, is a severe mistake.
54
Correct me if I'm wrong, but no matter what the personal beliefs of his predecessors, folks of African decent had made progress in American society in the decades before Wilson (not to mention the decades after him). So, he and the KKK led aregressive backlash movement against blacks. In this light, his progressive policies become an attempt to promote advancement for his race at the explicit exclusion of another. Wilson was a leader capable of imagining a better future, except this future didn't include colored folk.
29
This reminds me who Richard Nixon's favorite president was. Wilson, of course. When I first read that, years ago, I wondered why Nixon liked a Democrat. But gradually, things became clearer. The solid South in those days was Democrat, for one thing. Wilson was a pompous academic, for another. Some academics are wonderful, but the pompous ones are over the top. Wilson's magnum opus was calling the Great War "the war to end all wars." Then (leaving aside his disabling senility in office) this segregation policy. A perfect Nixon ideal.
24
That's a new one to me. Can you cite an article or book in which Nixon describes Wilson as his ideal. Considering that his running mate in 1960, Henry Cabot Lodge, was the namesake and grandson of the senator who led the fight against Wilson's League of Nations plan I find it difficult to believe that Nixon would express such a positive feeling about Wilson.
1
The most pompous academics today are NOT conservative, Greg.
3
Editing out now out of favour people: isn't that what the Soviet Union did?
29
No, it is not "editing out". It is correcting the historical record.
158
Mr. Shelton, the historical record concerning Wilson has been accurate and available for decades. Many (most?) scholars have long agreed that he was racist. The historical record is accurate and doesn't need "correcting".
20
Renaming buildings is not "editing" the historical record. Universities do it all the time -- although usually, it's to make a buck off someone who is willing to spend a couple million dollars to see his name in big bronze letters at his alma mater.
18
Historians and biographers have already confronted Wilson's segregationism for many decades. It has never been hidden from public knowledge.
It has also been fairly well-known that Martin Luther King, Jr. plagiarized his doctoral dissertation and was unfaithful to his wife. King is honored and revered for reasons other than the failings in the content of his character and his disservice to academic scholarship. Wilson is remembered positively for reasons other than his segregationism. The rest of us don't need students spending lots of time in demonstrations to inform us of what we already know.
The story of Mr. Davis's grandfather is of course not generally common knowledge, this is certainly an opportune moment to inform Americans of it, and the author does so here clearly and justifiably.
If Princeton wants to be politically correct and change the name of its policy school, it is free to do so, while students who are there to become better educated focus on their studies rather than on inconsistent stunts.
It has also been fairly well-known that Martin Luther King, Jr. plagiarized his doctoral dissertation and was unfaithful to his wife. King is honored and revered for reasons other than the failings in the content of his character and his disservice to academic scholarship. Wilson is remembered positively for reasons other than his segregationism. The rest of us don't need students spending lots of time in demonstrations to inform us of what we already know.
The story of Mr. Davis's grandfather is of course not generally common knowledge, this is certainly an opportune moment to inform Americans of it, and the author does so here clearly and justifiably.
If Princeton wants to be politically correct and change the name of its policy school, it is free to do so, while students who are there to become better educated focus on their studies rather than on inconsistent stunts.
99
MLK's misdeeds affected himself and his family almost exclusively. What Wilson did affected an entire generation of people who were trying to make their way up the so-called ladder of success. And as awful as Willson's actions were, we have a slew of right wing conservatives today using newer code language but trying to impose same obnoxious "order."
The fact that most people have no idea of Wilson's behavior or attitudes goes to the heart of America's need to think of itself as "exceptional." Clearly, Wilson was not attitudinally that far from the slave owners of the pre-CW period. But he acted upon this obnoxious perspective and killed the dreams and progress of hundreds of thousands of people. That is part of hIs and our history and there is, sadly, nothing exceptional about it.
All the pro corporate language of the SCOTUS and from the Congress are of the same anti-humane strain and stain that marks our nation for both good and ill. The key is to be aware of it, to hear the nasty language in the cries for "civil protection" and not fool ourselves into thinking we are so superior! We need to not repeat the same unethical, immoral, inhumane rules -- wrapped in velvet economic lingo this time around.
The fact that most people have no idea of Wilson's behavior or attitudes goes to the heart of America's need to think of itself as "exceptional." Clearly, Wilson was not attitudinally that far from the slave owners of the pre-CW period. But he acted upon this obnoxious perspective and killed the dreams and progress of hundreds of thousands of people. That is part of hIs and our history and there is, sadly, nothing exceptional about it.
All the pro corporate language of the SCOTUS and from the Congress are of the same anti-humane strain and stain that marks our nation for both good and ill. The key is to be aware of it, to hear the nasty language in the cries for "civil protection" and not fool ourselves into thinking we are so superior! We need to not repeat the same unethical, immoral, inhumane rules -- wrapped in velvet economic lingo this time around.
28
King's indiscretions pale dramatically when compared with Wilson's.
16
Let's see--first we're going to kick Andrew Jackson off the $20 bill because he owned slaves. (So did George Washington but no one would have the nerve to kick the Father of our Country off the Dollar Bill) Now, to right an old grievance, Woodrow Wilson is going to be kicked out of the hallowed halls of Princeton. While I'm sorry to read that Gordon J Davis's grandfather was treated unfairly by Wilson, times were very different between 1913 and 1920. We have to stop judging events that took place in the 20th century through the prism of the 21st century.
35
As an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, I fully support removing Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill. He did far more than simply "own slaves". He promoted genocide and violated the Constitution he swore to uphold and defend by defying the Supreme Court, among other things.
467
There's also the Indian Removal Act (see Trail of Tears), Jackson's views on paper money, and his campaign against the Bank of the US. Ironic, no, that a president who hated paper bills ended up on one.?
147
In the Southwestern Version of the "Trail of Tears," Abraham Lincoln issued the executive order that forced the Navajo and Apache off their land in New Mexico and Arizona onto reservations. Do you think we should take Lincoln off the $1 bill and demolish the Lincoln Memorial?
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There was no reason Wilson had to do such a thing, this was just plain inhumane, insensitive, and immoral. I don't care what the "times" were, our President should be where the buck stops, our last hope, looking out for the little guy, the common man, the average American that might get run over by the system. And what does Wilson do? Make a special effort to target and purge the most vulnerable American, the poor black man. Unbelievable. Sickening.
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I find it interesting that the tone of the apologists for Wilson is hateful, while the tone of this writer is empathetic. Wilson carried Jim Crow policies into the White House and that's shameful, especially considering his erudition.
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You're just learning all this now? My kids learned this in AP history in HS. Your idea of what the president does is puerile.
3
But there WAS a reason for Wilson's actions. It was part of a deliberate policy to retain power for the whites in the DC area (a southern place, don't forget). Jim Crow was about deliberate disenfranchisement of blacks so a white power structure would persist. Segregation of schools and public places, denial of voting rights, economic pressure, convict leasing, and a thousand other slights and intimidations created a have-not system to keep the black man down and beaten. Wilson was simply a very powerful racist, and he did his part. A weak Federal Govt made it possible; remind your States Rights' friends.
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Thank you for publishing this shocking information. There is so much we don't know here in Europe about USA history.
When was the government segregation policy introduced by W. Wilson repealed ?
When was the government segregation policy introduced by W. Wilson repealed ?
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Discrimination on the basis of race violated federal law in Wilson's own time, under the 1866 Civil Rights Bill, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted shortly after, which seemed to close debates about the constitutionality of Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation. But not until the 1964 Civil Rights Act were effective remedies available for victims of discrimination. So, except for breakthroughs like the 1954 Brown vs the Bd. of Ed case, effective enforcement really dates from 1964 and the years following, as voting rights and related laws came into effect and cases entered federal courts. I am not a lawyer, nor a historian of the law. Others can provide an account of how a U.S. President (and many other officials) could flout existing federal law.
When I take a look at not just the sympathies but also the laws of Wilson's era, I conclude that "relative to his time" is no excuse for his racist purges. Segregation, discrimination, and lynchings were always morally wrong, and in Wilson's time courts could have addressed them. For various reasons--fear of change, mostly--the nation's leaders compromised the nation's integrity along with their own.
Are we so hopelessly in love with the very idea of leadership that we insist on celebrating their legacies without reservation and refrain from faulting them for their failings? America needs a more realistic attitude toward leadership!
When I take a look at not just the sympathies but also the laws of Wilson's era, I conclude that "relative to his time" is no excuse for his racist purges. Segregation, discrimination, and lynchings were always morally wrong, and in Wilson's time courts could have addressed them. For various reasons--fear of change, mostly--the nation's leaders compromised the nation's integrity along with their own.
Are we so hopelessly in love with the very idea of leadership that we insist on celebrating their legacies without reservation and refrain from faulting them for their failings? America needs a more realistic attitude toward leadership!
15
These abhorrent policies, and many others, were covered under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, in general, outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
5
There is no doubt that Woodrow Wilson was a racist and ruined the lives of countless talented African-Americans and their families. There is also no doubt that he accomplished many positive things as President. How to deal with this?
I commiserate with with Mr.l Davis. I think, however, of another President, FDR. President Roosevelt did not order the bombing of death camps or concentration camps during World War II. The extermination of Europe's Jews, including some of my family members and more of my wife's family members, might have at least been been slowed down. But it wasn't.
There are the usual excuses, hardly convincing, but it is impossible to ignore the gnawing feeling and perception that the latent prevalent anti-Semitism, and perhaps not so latent, common in government circles also had something to do with this and the same certainly goes for President Roosevelt (although this will undoubtedly release a barrage of disagreement). See, e.g. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-medoff-roosevelt-h...
Let's say that there is at least something in this. It is no secret. It has never really diminished' however, FDR's standing, even among Jews who have reason to be upset.
President Wilson was what he was and that was and is despicable. However, times were also different. One does not judge the past by today's standards. Otherwise there are very few in the past who can withstand the judgement of the present.
I commiserate with with Mr.l Davis. I think, however, of another President, FDR. President Roosevelt did not order the bombing of death camps or concentration camps during World War II. The extermination of Europe's Jews, including some of my family members and more of my wife's family members, might have at least been been slowed down. But it wasn't.
There are the usual excuses, hardly convincing, but it is impossible to ignore the gnawing feeling and perception that the latent prevalent anti-Semitism, and perhaps not so latent, common in government circles also had something to do with this and the same certainly goes for President Roosevelt (although this will undoubtedly release a barrage of disagreement). See, e.g. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-medoff-roosevelt-h...
Let's say that there is at least something in this. It is no secret. It has never really diminished' however, FDR's standing, even among Jews who have reason to be upset.
President Wilson was what he was and that was and is despicable. However, times were also different. One does not judge the past by today's standards. Otherwise there are very few in the past who can withstand the judgement of the present.
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"However, times were also different." An excuse that historians can use if Trump becomes President and (somehow!) rounds up 11 million people and dumps them in Mexico or manages to tag Muslims with gps so they can be accounted for. Will you stand by as these things are done to these groups and shrug and say "times are different"? Times were different for the Jewish citizens of Nazi Germany. Would you accept that "times are different" if whatever group, perceived or otherwise, you belong to were unjustly punished? Some things are always wrong.
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This is a well-thought out and very well-reasoned comment, especially re: Franklin Roosevelt.
Let us not forget that FDR gave us Korematsu vs. The United States, which allowed the government to place Americans of Japanese descent into internment camps. These Americans lost their homes, their jobs, and nearly all of their assets due to this misguided and racist policy.
And Korematsu has never been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is still the "law of the land."
Let us not forget that FDR gave us Korematsu vs. The United States, which allowed the government to place Americans of Japanese descent into internment camps. These Americans lost their homes, their jobs, and nearly all of their assets due to this misguided and racist policy.
And Korematsu has never been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is still the "law of the land."
40
You are supposed to learn from the past, not forget it.
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Thank you, Mr. Davis. And huge congratulations to the Princeton students calling for this change. This is what is called progress. And this is what it takes to reverse decades of racism. If you want not to hide the history, put up a plaque explaining the changes. Anyone claiming that Wilson didn't know any better is a liar.
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Ah, calling those who don't agree with you "liars"...that's always an effective technique in persuasion.
20
Do you have evidence that Wilson knew better? Evidence that educated opinion in 1913 was the same as educated opinion today?
3
Demonstrations, marches, strikes. This is how change happens, this is how people become educated. Kudos to the students at universities all round the country demanding recognition and change. This, too, is real learning.
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