After giving his speech at City Auditorium, President Taft made his way to Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) to address the black student body. In his speech, he called on African Americans to impact society, especially in the field of agriculture in which he attributed as natural for a "race of farmers." His comments appear shockingly racist today, but in 1909 well before the civil rights era began, the visit to a black university by a sitting President was a significant event.
