http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#African_Americans
Several historians have described Wilson's policies as racist;[182][183][184] some also describe Wilson personally as a racist.[185][186]
In his book, History of the American People, Wilson depicted white European immigrants with empathy while African American immigrants and their children were regarded as unsuitable for citizenship and unable to assimilate positively into American society.[187] Wilson believed that slavery was wrong on economic labor grounds, rather than for moral reasons.[187] Wilson idealized the slavery system in the South, having viewed masters as patient with "indolent" slaves, whom Wilson believed were like "shiftless children". Wilson held contempt for the belief that African Americans could be free and self-governing.[187] In terms of Reconstruction, Wilson held the common neo-Confederate view that the South was demoralized by Northern carpetbaggers and Congressional imposition of black equality justified extreme measures to reassert white supremacist national and state governments.[188] Wilson viewed blacks as related to the animal world, having illustrated an elderly black man with monkey features.[188] Wilson publicly and privately referred to blacks as "darkies".[188]
In 1912, "an unprecedented number"[184] of African Americans left the Republican Party to cast their vote for Wilson, a Democrat. They were encouraged by his promises of support for minorities. However, once in office, Wilson's cabinet members expanded racially segregationist policies. Black leaders who had supported Wilson in the 1912 election were angered when Wilson placed segregationist white Southerners in charge of many executive departments,[184][189] and the administration acted to reduce the already-meager number of African-Americans in political-appointee positions.[182][189] Wilson's cabinet officials, with the president's blessing, proceeded to establish official segregation in most federal government offices – in some departments for the first time since 1863.[184] New facilities were designed to keep the races working there separated.
Historian Eric Foner says, "[Wilson's] administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees."[182] Segregation was also quickly implemented at the Post Office Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired. The segregation implemented in the Department of the Treasury and the Post Office Department involved not only screened-off working spaces, but also separate lunchrooms and toilets.
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