“Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen,” President Wilson told the delegation from the National Independent Equal Rights League during its November 12, 1914, visit. When Trotter disputed Wilson’s claim that federal employees were racially separated to avoid friction, the president, as widely reported in The New York Times and elsewhere, cited Trotter’s “tone” and dismissed the delegation leader. “Your manner offends me,” Wilson muttered.
