Henry A. Wallace Speaks To Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity December, 1947

Ten Extra Years
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

Once in this nation there was a politician who actually had a true concern for the plight of African Americans. The result of his showing that concern was his being ostracized by the Democratic Party’s southern wing which in turn caused this individual a chance at doing some tremendous things as President of the United States. Henry Wallace was Vice President during the third term of FDR’s presidency. Had it not been for the segregation reactionaries of the southern and even northern wing of the Democratic Party, Wallace, not Truman would’ve been elevated to the Presidency when FDR died in 1945. Had FDR held to his wife’s principles and not been influenced by his own racism. The track of this nation may have changed substantially in the 1940s’ and 1950s’. The civil rights struggles could’ve been dramatically altered. In 1947, while running as a Presidential candidate on the Progressive Party, Henry Wallace went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to discuss race, racism, and America’s responsibility to erase that sickness from our society. Today, I read his speech where he discusses how to even the odds of African Americans in this nation.