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Bio
Barack Obama
When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he became the first African American to hold the office. Obama faced major challenges during his two-term tenure in office. His primary policy achievements included health care reform, economic stimulus, banking reform and consumer protections, and a repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy preventing lesbian and gay Americans from serving
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Scholarship
Blind Piano Prodigy Thomas Greene Bethune
Eleven-year-old piano prodigy and composer Thomas Greene Wiggins Bethune (1849-1908) is believed to have been the first African American artist to perform at the White House when he played for President James Buchanan in 1860. By that time "Blind Tom"—as the unsighted enslaved child was billed professionally by his white master-manager Colonel James Bethune—had toured the United States and was
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Scholarship
Preface - The White House in Gingerbread
My memories transport me back to a time, just a few years ago and a few days before Christmas, when I was the White House executive pastry chef and the annual White House holiday parties have come to an end. We are busily cleaning the Pastry Shop. This is the time of year we go through everything—every refrigerator, walk-in co
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Gingerbread for Home Kitchens
This recipe is suited for the home kitchen and will produce enough gingerbread to make a house using the template provide in the back pocket of The White House in Gingerbread: Memories & Recipes book. Makes 2 sheets (12 x 18") Use a 5-quart mixing bowl Ingredients3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 5 ounces molasses (liquid measure) 5 ounces honey (
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African Americans & The Decatur House
Few people know the story of a brave woman named Charlotte Dupuy who was enslaved in Decatur House, the large brick residence that has stood on Lafayette Square at the corner of H Street and Jackson Place since 1818. In 1829, while living at Decatur House, Dupuy sued her owner, Secretary of State Henry Clay, for her freedom. Charlotte Dupuy, or "Lotty"
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Wormley Hotel
Lafayette Square in the 19th century was the epicenter of political, social and civic activity in Washington, D.C. Originally the area was known as the President's Square and just a block from the northeast corner of this common stood an establishment known as Wormley's Hotel, probably the most successful private enterprise of its time in that area. From the
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“A Place of Peace”
“He is an organizer, a methodizer, a man of decision, a judge of values, and above all he knows the worth of time,” wrote author Elbert Hubbard of George Bruce Cortelyou (1862-1940), whose mastery of many practical administrative matters and his ability to keep up with an enormous stream of paperwork made him the forerunner of today’s White House chiefs
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Scholarship
Inside the Working White House: Early 19th Century
Diaries, memoirs, and other historical records served as the basis for this speculative glimpse of an ordinary day for domestic servants in the Jefferson White House. "The third of April 1807 dawned chilly, and the steward, Étienne Lemaire, would have been up early to start the footmen laying fires in the hearths. The footmen were soon to get on with the d
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African Americans Enter Abraham Lincoln's White House, 1863-1865
The New Years’ Day reception became a White House tradition with President John Adams in 1801 and ended with President Herbert Hoover in 1932. A gala social occasion that attracted the interest of dignitaries, journalists and the general public, it eventually generated crowds of several thousand people who crashed the White House gates for a glimpse of the president or, best of al
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Scholarship
Paul Jennings
Paul Jennings was born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Virginia estate of James and Dolley Madison. His mother, an enslaved woman of African and Native American descent, told him that his father was the local English trader Benjamin Jennings. While Paul had no documented relationship with Benjamin and probably never met him, he did adopt the ‘Jennings’ surname as his own. As a