Collection The Decatur House Slave Quarters
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room,...
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Black clerks at the Treasury Department in the late 19th century.
Civil Rights activist and journalist William Monroe Trotter caused a stir in 1914 because he strongly protested President Woodrow Wilson’s support for segregation of black federal employees in the workplace. Trotter came to the White House as a founder and representative of the National Independent Political League, a militant organization that fought for racial and social justice, and the publisher of The Guardian, a Boston newspaper dedicated to the fight against racial discrimination.
In a meeting with Wilson, Trotter directly challenged the president for permitting the segregation of black and white government clerks. Angered by this confrontation that questioned his integrity, President Wilson declared himself "offended" and had Trotter removed from the White House. Trotter then took his case to the press and ridiculed the president for introducing segregation into the federal work force as a means to prevent racial friction. The activist noted that black and white clerks had worked together without problems for more than 50 years. Trotter devoted his career to the fight against racial discrimination and to the development of independent political action in the black community. He led numerous non-violent protests and demonstrations against conservative black leaders like Booker T. Washington for being too accommodating and attacked films and plays that glorified the Ku Klux Klan. At that time Trotter’s confrontational tactics were highly controversial, but his activism and approach became a model for the Civil Rights Movement from 1940 to 1970.
In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room,...
Native Americans hold a significant place in White House history. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples, including the Nacotchtank and...
For more than one hundred years, White House Social Secretaries have demonstrated a profound knowledge of protocol and society in...
For more than two centuries, the White House has been the home of American presidents. A powerful symbol of the...
For more than a century, thousands of Americans have gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House to exercise...
While there has yet to be a female president, women have played an integral role in shaping the White House...
In 1816, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. and his wife Susan moved to the nascent capital city of Washington, D.C. With...
What was it like to grow up in a home where some of the most important political decisions are being...
First Lady Lou Hoover's invitation to Jessie L. DePriest to a White House tea party in 1929 created a storm of...
The White House Historical Association and the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project present this collaboration in an effort to open a...
Biographies & Portraits
Monday, September 25 12:00pm: Registration at the Mayflower Hotel 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: White House Reception Please join us for a White House Re...