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President Lyndon B. Johnson with Civil Rights Leaders in the Oval Office (1964)

Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

The White House has figured prominently in many stories of the African American freedom struggle. Brave men and women battled to end slavery in the nineteenth century and continued the fight by working to secure the vote and challenge discrimination. Their paths often led to the Executive Mansion and the power that resides there. The twentieth century offered several examples of their stories and the actions taken by presidents and first ladies to support the fight for civil rights.