Treaty of Versailles
At the peace conferences in Paris and Versailles, France, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called for the “self-determination” of peoples, suggesting that groups like national minorities ought to have the equal right to choose their own government instead of living under the domination of empires. His calls for the spread of democracy inspired peoples in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to look to American principles in their fights against colonial oppressors.
Yet while Wilson attempted to enlist European powers at the Versailles peace conference in his new vision for the world, lynchings and race riots in the U.S. seemed to undermine his attempt to promote American values and democracy. While leaders like W. E. B. DuBois and anti-colonial nationalists initially saw 1919 as a potential moment for galvanizing changes in social and political rights for people of color around the world, in reality Wilson’s vision of world-wide democracy was limited by race. He intended these principles to apply to groups in Europe, not to the subjects of European empires in Asia or Africa, and not to African Americans in the United States.
