The next year, 1924, Coolidge made history by giving the commencement address there. Howard University is what is now called a ‘HBCU’ — a historically Black college or university. Coolidge was the first U.S. president to ever speak at the graduation ceremonies of a HBCU.
Coolidge’s speech at Howard was a major advance for civil rights, as historian Kurt Schmoke writes:
Coolidge gave the commencement address at Howard and signaled a significant change in progressive race relations. In reading his words it must be recalled that he spoke at a time when separate but equal was the law of the land, when lynchings trumped due process in criminal cases involving black men, and when the most recent Democratic president, Woodrow Wilson, had praised a film which glorified the Ku Klux Klan.
Words alone, however, were not enough for Calvin Coolidge. Concrete actions were needed to promote opportunities for African-Americans. His objective was to move millions of Blacks from the lower classes to the middle classes, as a report from the Coolidge Foundation explains:
President Coolidge called for funds to be appropriated to establish a medical school at Howard University in his first State of the Union message to Congress in December 1923. “About half a million dollars is recommended for medical courses at Howard University to help contribute to the education of 500 colored doctors needed each year,” the President said. By this act, Coolidge hoped to improve the state of medical care for the black population. He also sought to grow the black middle class by adding more black professionals to society.
1924 was an election year, and Coolidge’s appearance at Howard University sent a signal: Coolidge was firmly opposed to the KKK. He and his predecessor, President Warren Harding, had also promoted anti-lynching laws in Congress.
But Coolidge’s opponent in the election, the Democratic Party, had failed to make a clear anti-Klan statement in the platform adopted at their convention. The platform failed to make any statements about race or civil rights, and failed to endorse anti-lynching laws.
The Democratic Party was divided. Many anti-Klan Democrats didn’t vote for their party’s nominee in the general election in November 1924. The Democrat nominee, John Davis, did make an anti-Klain statement, but the party failed to back him up.
Entry into the middle class was important for African-Americans in the 1920s. During Coolidge’s presidency, the number of Blacks in federal employment reached a high of 51,882 in 1928, up from 22,540 in 1910. This represented measurable progress as African-Amercans left the lower classes and moved upward.
Coolidge sent a continuous series of signals, by words and by actions, of his dedication to civil rights.
