| Abstract |
"In "Forgotten Legacy," Benjamin Justesen reveals a previously unexamined facet of William McKinley's presidency: an ongoing, productive dedication to the advancement of African Americans, including their appointment to significant roles in the federal government and the general protection of their rights as United States citizens. During the first two years of his presidency, McKinley appointed more African Americans to office than all his predecessors combined. He also acted on many fronts to extend them protection from violence at the hands of lynch mobs and to continue their assimilation into American society. Indeed, Justesen's work suggests that we could consider McKinley the first "civil rights president" - especially when compared to his next five successors in the office. Nonetheless, historians have long minimized, trivialized, or overlooked McKinley's cooperative relationships with prominent African American leaders, including George Henry White, the only black congressman between 1897 and 1901. Justesen contends that this one-sided portrait of William McKinley is grievously incomplete, misleading, and often severely distorted. The child of abolitionist parents, McKinley was personally committed, both philosophically and politically, to fairness for America's black citizens. He was not as successful as he sought to be, especially after mid-term Congressional losses in 1898 and a rise in intransigence by southern congressmen. Justesen uses George White's parallel efforts in and outside of Congress as the primary lens to fashion a new chronicle of the McKinley administration's accomplishments. He focuses on McKinley's regular meetings with a small and mostly unheralded group of African American advisors - including White, his confidant Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett, and major appointees Judson W. Lyons and Henry P. Cheatham - and his continuing relationship with the new National Afro-American Council. The most visible facet of McKinley's efforts was his nomination of more than 80 black U.S. postmasters - nearly half of them proposed by George White - during his first two years in office. Historians have mostly overlooked those appointments as well as McKinley's selection of over a dozen black diplomats and consular officers during his term. Only months before his assassination, McKinley toured the South, visiting black colleges at every stop to praise black achievements and encourage a spirit of optimism among his audiences. Justesen uses a series of significant events of 1898 with critical racial overtones to illustrate the primary structure of McKinley's efforts: the lynching of a black U.S. postmaster in South Carolina, and the subsequent federal trial of his accused killers; the encouragement of black volunteers for the army in the war with Spain; the founding of the National Afro-American Council; the armed coup d'état against the municipal government in Wilmington, N.C., and the ensuing racial massacre; and the president's southern "Peace Tour," during which he committed the federal government to caring for Confederate graves. Although McKinley succumbed to political pressure and was less successful at promoting equality and civil rights that he hoped, Justesen shows that his efforts were far more significant and meaningful than previously understood"-- Provided by publisher. |
