This Day in History: <br />Teddy Roosevelt Discusses <br />America’s Race Problem February 13, 1905 Roosevelt delivered a <br />speech to the NYC Republican <br />Club in which he discussed <br />the country’s state of race relations. During his administration — <br />just 40 years after the end <br />of the Civil War — much bitterness <br />existed between the North and the South. The West had also seen an <br />influx of Asian immigrants, <br />which contributed to <br />new racial tensions. Roosevelt’s solution was to proceed <br />slowly toward social and economic <br />equality, taking caution against <br />radical changes in government policy. Referring to white Americans <br />as the 'forward race,' he suggested <br />a gradual adjustment in the attitudes <br />of whites toward ethnic minorities. It would take nearly six decades —with <br />the 1964 Civil Rights Act —for government <br />efforts aimed at correcting racial <br />bias to be passed into law.
