Equal Accommodations

President Roosevelt sends a letter to the Department of Justice directing that railroads provide equal accommodations for white and black passengers.

President Roosevelt has done a commendable thing in sending a letter to the Department of Justice concerning the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission under date of June 27, 1907 directing that the railroads in question furnish equal accommodations for white and colored passengers. “Washington, Apr. 8.-- President Roosevelt today made public his letter of April 2 to the attorney general, directing proceedings by injunction to compel certain railroads of the South to furnish equal accommodations to white and Negro passengers...This is a step in the right direction and indicates that the mighty protest of the colored people of this country has reached the ear of the distinguished occupant of the White House in a way to cause him to sit up and take notice. We are gratified to know tha the has at least a spark of appreciation left for the ‘brother in black” and hope that this evidence of a latent feeling existing in his breast for colored people and their interests will lead him to make the vital step now needed to bring him back to his former “first love” by making the effort of his life to undo the great wrong perpetrated by him upon the 167 members of Companies B,C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Infantry. The question now is as to the ability of the Interstate Commerce Commission to have its own decrees enforced. Viewed impartially, though, it seems to us that the words of commendation are more essential for use upon this commision than upon the President of the United States, who is simply complying with his oath of office. But then we are in favor of commending all of them.

“Equal Accommodations,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed January 20, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/543.