RECKONING: A Series on U.S. Presidents and Racial Inequality
In collaboration with other presidential sites, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is honored to provide these materials that explore the views and political policies of individual presidents toward minority populations. This page includes bios and videos of the series that were recorded in 2022.
This series has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
We need to talk about it. Since the founding of our country, we have grappled with who belongs. Even as Thomas Jefferson was writing, “all men are created equal,” he enslaved hundreds of individuals. The struggle for racial equality has existed since the beginning of our nation.
We believe that conversations amongst public historians which include Q&A sessions with the public are opportunities for honest discussion and reflection as we move toward a more just society.
This series explores the views and the political policies of individual presidents toward minority populations, with an in-depth focus on how each of these minority groups was affected by presidential policies directed toward them. We believe that conversations amongst public historians which include Q&A sessions with the public are opportunities for honest discussion and reflection as we move toward a more just society.
