"A Tempest in a Teapot"

A presentation examining the racial politics of First Lady Lou Hoover's Invitation of Jessie DePriest to a White House Tea in 1929, from the perspectives of the first lady, the DePriests, and DePriest family descendants.

"The Working White House" Exhibit

The Working White House explores the occupational culture—the stories, traditions, memories, and skills—of the men and women who have operated, maintained, and helped preserve the Executive Mansion.

"The Half Had Not Been Told Me" / African Americans in Lafayette Square, 1795-1965

Lafayette Square—known first as President's Square—is a landscape with a rich and varied African-American history. Prior to emancipation, both free and enslaved African-Americans lived and worked on the Square ...

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African Americans and the White House Timeline

Explore the central and behind-the-scenes roles that African Americans have held, as well the landmark events in which they have participated in the history of the White House, 1790 - present.

African Americans and the Decatur House

For most of its history, Decatur House served as home to numerous enslaved and free African Americans who lived and worked at the site - and its architecture, in several ways, reflects the status of those residents ... READ MORE

White House History Journal : "The Washington of Paul Jennings" [PDF]

White House Slave, Free Man and Conspirator for Freedom, African-American servant to James Madison, Paul Jennings, wrote one of the very first White House memiors: "A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison."

photo: courtesy of Sylvia Jennings Alexander Estate

For the Classroom: African Americans and the White House

• Lessons 4-8 : African Americans and the White House


• Lessons 9-12 : FDR, A. Philip Randolph and the Desegregation of the Defense Industries


• Lessons 9-12 : Truman, A. Philip Randolph and the Desegregation of the Armed Services


• Lessons 9-12 : JFK, A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington, 1963


• Lessons 9-12 : Abraham Lincoln, "Thence Forward, and Forever Free"


• "Paths to Freedom," A Free Field-Trip Program