[cauddyVab]

Both received broad support from both parties. I'm gonna slap a [citation needed] on that. Where are you getting the roll calls for 1924 from?

[CathBraun]

I personally find it amusing that you can't choke out a simple historical fact because it runs contrary to your bias. You certainly are willing to choke out excuses for why it doesn't really count though. Odd that.

Huh? He said pretty clearly that Wilson was a racist.

[Agitoligflise]

Who gives a **** considering their lives continued to horribly suck until long, long after that anyway, just like life for US blacks.

[AsmViktor]

Is Ben a Calvin Coolidge fan or something?

I knew nothing about the guy but checking out his wikipedia, he seems to have been a pretty good president, all the more notable because he's so forgotten. A shame.

Like his predecessor Warren G. Harding, Coolidge was most definitely not racist, though:

In 1924, Coolidge responded to a letter that claimed the United States was a "white man's country":

....I was amazed to receive such a letter. During the war 500,000 colored men and boys were called up under the draft, not one of whom sought to evade it. [As president, I am] one who feels a responsibility for living up to the traditions and maintaining the principles of the Republican Party. Our Constitution guarantees equal rights to all our citizens, without discrimination on account of race or color. I have taken my oath to support that Constitution....[131] It's refreshing to see such positive words from the president in such an era. I swear the American history the Liberals force-feed us is always about how terrible everyone was.

[zdoppiklonikaa]

So can anyone explain the basis for excluding American Indians and Asians from suffrage despite the 15th amendment? I've asked this in history classes but no teacher ever knew.

Under the Chinese Exclusion Act (and there was another for Japanese which also covered Koreans since they were technically a Japanese colony) most Asians couldn't become citizens and since they were not legally citizens they couldn't vote. The exception were Asians born in the US and so who automatically got citizenship and the right to vote. Native-Americans were previously thought not to be US citizens but citizens of their respective tribes which were sovereign but subject to US control. Yeah, it was pretty much just legalese in an attempt to make sure nonwhites didn't gain any political power in the country.

[Emedgella]

It's refreshing to see such positive words from the president in such an era. I swear the American history the Liberals force-feed us is always about how terrible everyone was.

Which ****ing history classes did you take?! Most of them are about how the US is the "best country" and though we were bastards at some points in the past, the US is super amazing regardless (well the last bit may be true ).

[ardsdelinq]

Pssh. Neither of you have attended public schools in a Democratically-controlled school district.

[Ad0i89Od]

I grew up in PG county, which is pretty heavily Democrat IIRC. We went over past acts of racism in tremendous detail. I don't remember any USA-is-great business aside from the usual bland worship of the Constitution.

[tweriaroats]

Is Ben a Calvin Coolidge fan or something? Favourite president.

[TughEmotteTug]

I wonder if it has more to do with racial demographics than party membership demographics. Both counties are pretty Democratic, but Montgomery county is majority white and PG county is majority black.

Oh, that definitely has something to do with it. We didn't learn too much about Indian oppression, but ordinary history education basically ground to a halt every February so we could learn about slavery and the civil rights movement for the umpteenth time. I remember in eighth grade one student actually stood up and asked, "why are we learning about Harriet Tubman again?"

Also, my elementary school had random assemblies where the whole school would get out of class to learn about some aspect of black culture, sometimes rather obscure. I remember there was one for "hoofing," one for a dancer-storyteller from some African nation or another...the Reggae assembly was pretty frickin' awesome, though.