'A Tempest in a Teapot'

First Lady Lou Hoover's invitation to Jessie L. DePriest to a White House tea party in 1929 created a storm of protest and indignation. This traditional act of hospitality toward the wife of the first black man elected to Congress in the twenthieth century created a political crisis for the president and first lady. Here we examine the "tempest" from the perspectives of the first lady, the DePriests and DePriest family descendants.