The Lincoln Memorial Dedication — White Supremacy Rules
Why couldn’t America get it right?
At the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, Black Americans who attended were segregated from the rest of the crowd on hand. The area where they sat was not just designated but it was roped off. The date is May 30, 1922.
No African Americans were allowed to speak at the dedication except one — Dr. Robert R. Moton, an African American scholar, and President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Moton wrote a speech that sought to expose the hypocrisy of the event. He called the memorial a “hollow mockery” in his initial draft of the speech. Yet, Moton’s speech was altered and censored by President Harding and he was not allowed to criticize the country or its history.
It should also be noted that Moton was a conservative. He was President of Tuskegee when the Tuskegee Experiments began and did not, as far as history has revealed, object to the experiment. Moton died long before the evil of the Tuskegee experiments was exposed. It is difficult to determine his role in that horrific story.
