Description

Photograph of delegates at the 1912 Democratic National Convention held at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the first convention where the democrats used primaries to choose their delegates. Woodrow Wilson received the party nomination but only after fifty-six ballots. Although Wilson ran as a progressive candidate, he did not espouse strong views on African American issues, while Theodore Roosevelt, who, splitting away from the Republican Party, ran as the Progressive Party candidate, spoke out for change. When Roosevelt barred African American delegates from the South from being seated and kept the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's platform amendment to reform discriminatory laws from passing, many African Americans turned to Wilson. In the picture, which appears to be a formal dinner, all of the delegates seated at long tables appear to be Caucasian, while all of the waiters, who are standing, are African American. That all of the waiters are African American may, in part, be explained by the fact that most catering businesses in Baltimore between 1882 and 1930 were owned and operated by African Americans.

Record Contributed By

Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center

Record Harvested From

Digital Maryland