I was taught when I was younger that Wilson and the Allies' stance of self-determination after WWI was a good idea because its goal was to allow minority groups a freedom and political voice that they couldn't have had in larger empires. However, my current history professor called Wilson "the worst bigot to ever serve as President" and said that Wilson advocated self-determination because he thought different ethnic groups couldn't and shouldn't live together.
This has made me curious as to what most historians believe about this issue. Does what my history professor said have some merit or is he misguided?
Woodrow Wilson was a Democratic politician, from Staunton VA. He was very bigoted towards African Americans. When elected President of the United States, he ordered all African Americans that worked for the Federal Government to be fired. He watched the silent movie "Birth of a Nation" while living in the White House. The Klu Klux Klan had a great revival during the Wilson Administration and he did nothing to curtail their activities.
Yet this was racism on the domestic front. His views on Self-Determination for smaller ethnic groups in Europe, that had been living under the thumb of larger empires, like Austria-Hungary and the Russian empires, are generally thought to be egalitarian. Although Wilson only applied these principiles to Europeans. He also blocked the Japanese attempt to include language about the equality of the races in the Treaty of Versailles.