Woodrow Wilson’s racist legacy

By Chris Myers Asch
December 11 at 4:00 PM

... While Wilson has a complicated legacy that includes genuine accomplishments, his record in the District is unambiguously negative ... When Wilson arrived in 1913 ... the District had the nation’s largest black community .. and boasted a rich array of black-run schools, businesses, churches, newspapers and civic organizations. Schools were segregated, but many public institutions were not. Black people of all classes could freely read in the majestic Carnegie public library, ride the city’s streetcars, dine in federal cafeterias and stroll along the Mall without restriction. Black Washingtonians even could challenge white authorities in court and win ...

Wilson and his Southern allies in Congress sought to roll back many of those hard-won gains ... Wilson replaced all but two of his predecessor’s black appointees with white men, and his administrative appointees isolated black workers in “Negro corners,” forced them to use “colored” toilets and even erected a few “Whites Only” signs in federal buildings ...

... black Washingtonians .. fought back ... Archibald Grimké ..coordinated a series of protests and mass meetings, including one October 1913 rally that attracted a crowd of nearly 10,000 .. just a few blocks from Wilson’s White House ...

... the city should .. change the name of Wilson High ... Instead of honoring an aggressive white supremacist, we should embrace his nemesis ... Let’s call it Archibald Grimké High School.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/woodrow-wilsons-racist-legacy/2015/12/09/6a27aad4-9937-11e5-b499-76cbec161973_story.html