By Ciana Young, ’17
On October 18, 1905, Theodore Roosevelt made history as he rode into Richmond, Virginia. His stop in the city was only one leg of his grand tour of the Southern states. On October 18th, President Theodore Roosevelt gave five speeches; three in Richmond, one in Fredericksburg, and an additional oration in Ashland, Virginia. In 2016, it would seem the obvious move to give three speeches in the state capital, but I contend that on such a brief journey through the South the Republican president had to make choices on where how best to allocate his time. By giving Richmond three whole speeches he made Richmond matter. To understand Roosevelt’s journey into Richmond, one must note that wherever Roosevelt went, it was always political. Roosevelt used the podium in Richmond’s Capitol Square to address the entirety of the former Confederacy and Northerners to speak to white unity, nationalism, and masculinity.
In 1903, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that would reinforce the reliance of white citizens on disenfranchisement to control the Southern black electorate. In Giles V. Harris, a black janitor by the name of Jackson Giles filed suit claiming his constitutional right to vote had been violated under the Alabama state constitution. The court refused to enforce his right to vote under the fifteenth amendment and further refused to find the electoral practices or state constitution of Alabama unconstitutional. The court’s upholding of the disenfranchisement of black people promoted the cancerous trend in the Southern states.
The impact on the Republican Party was dramatic. The black electorate continued to disappear as disenfranchisement peaked in the Southern states, creating a void of Republican support in the South. Blacks had long been loyal to the party of former President Lincoln and had shown their loyalty on election day. However, with the rise of disenfranchisement in the South, the black electorate became less effective. It came time for Republicans to reach across the border states and expand their influence in the South.
Roosevelt’s journey through Dixie would come to be a defining political moment for his grand old party. Always the charmer, Roosevelt made great shows of his Southern heritage on his mother’s side before, and during, his journey. His anecdotal claim to both territories allowed him to more comfortably straddle the border states as neither a Northerner or a Southerner, but as an American. The language of his speeches in the former capital of the Confederacy as well as his language in Fredericksburg, a site of a dramatic battle of the Civil War, would promote this concept. Roosevelt spoke to American nationalism over individual accomplishments in order to summon troops in both regions to his command.
Bringing politics of nationalism to the forefront in this region highly committed to its regional identity was groundbreaking. His journey through Dixie suddenly does not appear to be a simple goodwill mission. The trip becomes a clever political maneuver. Despite having a history with black voters, Roosevelt’s speech to the Colored Industrial Association, and the black population throughout the South, on the same day was only 128 words long. As the October 21, 1905 Richmond Planet newspaper noted, “[T]he colored brother secured a feeble recognition” from Roosevelt during his visit. Roosevelt opened by saying “I want to congratulate you upon the showing your school-children have made, and further I wish as an American to congratulate the representatives of the colored race who have shown such progress in directing the industrial interests of this city. All they have done in that way means a genuine progress for the race.” Within the first few words he has already brought up the idea of fatherhood, called himself an American, and emphasized progress. The address mixed praise with paternalistic instruction.
By mentioning school-children, Roosevelt had acknowledged the fathering of black children and what that meant for the future of the nation. He respected the men represented not just as bodies or machines, but family men, part of a community of hard-working and educated people. He would appear to take two steps back by generalizing the children as “representatives of the colored race,” but here Roosevelt intended a compliment. He was commending this specific segment of Richmond’s population with a gentle pat on the back. But the heavy hand comes down when Roosevelt emphasized progress. It was not to be forgotten for these men are working for more than themselves. “I am glad as an American for what you are doing.” To Roosevelt, their industrial participation and their ability to organize themselves was American. Their association and their labor was part of what makes America great and sees his country represented well. He ended the very brief speech by making clear whose industrial interests truly mattered. “[That] the bank…in this city…is managed by colored men should give genuine pride to all the colored men of this country…colored men who show in business life both ability and a high order of integrity are real benefactors not only of your race but of the whole country.” What was amazing to Roosevelt was not that black success occurred, but that American cities like Richmond made their success possible.
At the end of the day, the fruits of their labor were to be claimed by the entire country. Richmond had already had its hand in building the entire nation through flour milling, iron production, and not least of all, the well as the slave trade.. Roosevelt tied that history of labor and its black population into the entire country. Richmond was no longer the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond was an American city full of American people and its black population fueled that bond through their labor. The black population was also fueling criticisms of the visit. Black newspapers caught the scorn felt by blacks in Richmond.
The Richmond Planet noted black Richmonders’ disappointment in Theodore Roosevelt. Part of the paper even took issue with the use of a black carriage driver for President Roosevelt’s travel. This controversy demonstrates an expectation that the President would not utilize such an antiquated Southern tradition of black servitude. The awareness of the strong negative implications of racial inferiority present Roosevelt is photographed using this a black carriage driver, shows that the black population was willing to dissect every piece of his visit.
The Richmond public at large warranted a full 2,408 words from the politician. He began his Capitol Square address by praising the “historic” nature of the state and its legacy of producing a “roll of those American worthies whose greatness is not only for the age but for all time, not only for one nation but for all the world, on this honor roll Virginia’s name stands above all others.” In one broad brushstroke, he had painted the history of Virginia as the history of America. This effectively erased the identities of his audience as Southerner and Virginians. Before his gaze, they were Americans, in an American state, living in an American city, based on American ideals of liberty. This purposeful erasure is deliberate, as he goes on to tell the crowd. North and South hold no meaning before the power of the nation. The concept of America trumps everything. To be American, means more than the outdated divisions of North and South.
The world “America” shows up eleven times in his 2,408 word speech compared to seven mentions of the “South” and a mere four appearances of “North.” Simply put, Theodore Roosevelt set out to eradicate the Northern and Southern division from public consciousness. Instead he wanted all southern citizens, enfranchised white men, to fill the void with American nationalism. The idea would be that white citizens would abandon their Democratic ties and perhaps support the party that fought for unity. Though America’s War of 1898 did not receive specific mention in his speech, Theodore Roosevelt repeated called on images of war and battle with the intent to make the nation itself worth fighting for. It is in that moment his history as a soldier himself become very useful in winning over the audience. Roosevelt aligned himself with Southern ideals of fighting for a cause and being a man.
In this picturesque vision of the future Theodore Roosevelt also expressed his ideal of manhood. As scholar Gary Gerstle writes, Theodore Roosevelt’s perception of manhood as it coincided with true masculinity was complex. Gail Bederman chronicles the longevity of Roosevelt’s unique understanding of gender. Roosevelt asserted that masculinity was in work and continuing the American race. On October 18, 1905 when Roosevelt addressed all of Richmond, and all of the South, his language is gendered. The term “women” only appears twice compared to the seven appearance of the word “men.” “Father” appears four times compared to the meager sole appearance of the word “mother.” In his gaze, Theodore Roosevelt saw men as the future of the nation. He envisioned fathering new sons of the nation; he see men who will work and men who will fight as those brave men in the blue and gray had. He lingered for a very long time on imagery of the Civil War. He embraced the history of the war but makes it useful.
Suddenly, the Civil War was a conflict of mutual interests from both sides. Both groups of men were fighting for liberty. Both sides were defending their constitution to the death. A white unity swept the crowd in excitement at this honorable history. The Richmond Planet noted that the “white people were unusually enthusiastic and the businessmen particularly so.” Blacks at the time noted a feverish excitement sweep the white Richmond population in response to Roosevelt’s speech. Roosevelt laid down foundational support for the reconciliation that would come in the far future between the North and the South that would eventually redraw the lines of political commitment. He brought a new white American pride to all the men who qualified for citizenship. He had started the long process of winning back the South.
Further Reading
Gail Bederman, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Benjamin P. Campbell, Richmond’s Unhealed History. Richmond, VA: Brandylane, 2012.
James Oliver Horton, and Lois E. Horton, eds. Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory. New York: New Press, 2006.
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979.