When Woodrow Wilson Segregated the Federal Workforce
An inconvenient truth about a former president.
This week, Woodrow Wilson became the latest historical figure to be drawn into ongoing battles over the legacy of racism at colleges and universities. A group of Princeton students demanded that Wilson’s name be erased from campus facilities and programs--a huge undertaking, given that there’s an entire school at the university (where Wilson served as president before entering the White House) named in his honor.
While some people may seek to dismiss this crusade as an exercise in political correctness, Vox’s Dylan Matthews points out today that Wilson was an ardent segregationist, even by the standards of his time--especially when it came to managing the federal workforce.
Here’s how William Keylor, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, describes the atmosphere in government when Wilson took office in 1913:
Washington was a rigidly segregated town--except for federal government agencies. They had been integrated during the post-war Reconstruction period, enabling African Americans to obtain federal jobs and work side by side with whites in government agencies. Wilson promptly authorized members of his cabinet to reverse this long-standing policy of racial integration in the federal civil service.
At a cabinet meeting in April 1913, Matthews writes, Postmaster General Albert Burleson made the case for resegregating the Railway Mail Service. Hearing no objection from Wilson, Burleson went ahead. Soon, the discriminatory policy expanded, according to a history of African Americans’ experience at the Postal Service published by the National Postal Museum:
Segregation was quickly implemented at the Post Office Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired. Employees who were downgraded were transferred to the dead letter office, where they did not interact with the public. The few African Americans who remained at the main post offices were put to work behind screens, out of customers’ sight.
Both the Post Office and the Treasury Department also created separate bathrooms and lunchrooms for African American and white employees.
Wilson’s predecessors in the post-Civil War era had appointed several African Americans to high-ranking government posts. He not only put a stop to that practice, but in 1914 instituted a policy requiring federal job seekers to attach photographs to their applications.
Despite protests from civil rights leaders during his administration, Wilson refused to budge on such measures. “I would say that I do approve of the segregation that is being attempted in several of the departments…,” he wrote at one point, declaring that it was in African Americans’ interest to be separate from their white coworkers.
That’s at best an inconvenient truth for Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, which is supposed to be training students for service in federal agencies.
Wakati Woodrow Wilson Aligawanya Wafanyakazi wa Shirikisho Ukweli usiofaa kuhusu Rais wa zamani. Woodrow Wilson amekuwa mtu wa mwisho katika historia kuingizwa katika vita vya ubaguzi wa rangi katika vyuo vikuu. Kikundi cha wanafunzi wa Princeton kilidai kwamba jina la Wilson lifutwe kutoka kwa vifaa na programu za chuo kikuu - mradi mkubwa, ikizingatiwa kwamba kuna shule nzima katika chuo kikuu (ambapo Wilson alihudumu kama rais kabla ya kuingia White House) jina lake. Ingawa baadhi ya watu wanaweza kutafuta kuondoa kampeni hii kama zoezi la usahihi wa kisiasa, Vox's Dylan Matthews anasema leo kwamba Wilson alikuwa mchawi wa ubaguzi, hata kwa viwango vya wakati wake - hasa linapokuja kusimamia wafanyakazi wa shirikisho. "Hii ndiyo jinsi William Keylor, profesa wa historia na mahusiano ya kimataifa katika Chuo Kikuu cha Boston, anavyoelezea hali ya serikali wakati Wilson alipoingia madarakani mwaka 1913: ""Washington ilikuwa mji uliogawanyika kabisa - isipokuwa kwa mashirika ya serikali ya shirikisho." Wamarekani wa asili ya Afrika waliunganishwa katika kipindi cha ujenzi baada ya vita, na hivyo kuwawezesha kupata kazi za serikali na kufanya kazi pamoja na wazungu katika mashirika ya serikali. Wilson aliwapa mara moja mamlaka washiriki wa baraza lake la mawaziri kubadili sera hiyo ya muda mrefu ya kuunganisha jamii katika utumishi wa umma wa shirikisho. Katika mkutano wa baraza la mawaziri mnamo Aprili 1913, Mkuu wa Idara ya Posta Albert Burleson alitoa kesi ya kugawanyika tena kwa Huduma ya Barua ya Reli. Bila kusikia pingamizi lolote kutoka kwa Wilson, Burleson aliendelea. "Hata hivyo, sheria hiyo ya ubaguzi iliongezeka, kulingana na historia ya uzoefu wa Waafrika wa Amerika katika Huduma ya Posta iliyochapishwa na Jumba la Makumbusho la Posta la Kitaifa: ""Ugawaji ulianzishwa haraka katika makao makuu ya Idara ya Posta huko Washington, DC.""" Wafanyakazi wengi Waafrika-Wamarekani walipunguzwa cheo na hata kufukuzwa kazi. Wafanyakazi waliopunguzwa cheo walihamishwa kwenye ofisi ya barua iliyokufa, ambapo hawakuingiliana na umma. Wamarekani wachache wa Kiafrika waliobaki katika ofisi kuu za posta waliwekwa kufanya kazi nyuma ya skrini, mbali na macho ya wateja. Ofisi ya Posta na Idara ya Hazina pia ziliunda vyumba vya kuogea na vyumba vya chakula cha mchana tofauti kwa wafanyakazi wa Kiafrika wa Amerika na wazungu. Waanzilishi wa Wilson katika enzi ya baada ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe walikuwa wameteua Wamarekani kadhaa wa Kiafrika katika nafasi za juu za serikali. Hata hivyo, baada ya kuondolewa kwa sheria hiyo, mwaka 1914 serikali ilianzisha sheria ya kuwalazimisha watu wanaotafuta kazi kuunganisha picha zao kwenye maombi yao. Licha ya maandamano kutoka kwa viongozi wa haki za kiraia wakati wa utawala wake, Wilson alikataa kuachana na hatua hizo. "Ningesema kwamba ninakubaliana na ubaguzi ambao unajaribiwa katika idara kadhaa...,"" aliandika wakati mmoja, akitangaza kuwa ilikuwa kwa maslahi ya Waafrika Wamarekani kuwa tofauti na wafanyikazi wenzao weupe. Hiyo ni ukweli usiofaa kwa Shule ya Umma na Masuala ya Kimataifa ya Woodrow Wilson ya Princeton, ambayo inapaswa kuwa mafunzo ya wanafunzi kwa huduma katika mashirika ya shirikisho.