The Black History of the White House

Locations
Call Number: Black Studies 975.3 Lu
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Black Studies 975.3 Lu	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Introduction : Black people, white houses -- A Declaration of Independence and racism : founding documents, founding fathers, and the preservation of slavery -- Prelude : Oney's White House story -- The president's house in the home of the abolitionist movement -- Prelude : Hercules' White House story -- A White House built on and with slavery -- Prelude : Peter's White House story -- Closed doors : the White House and presidents of slavery -- Prelude: Paul Jennings's White House story -- The White House goes to war : rebellion, reconstruction and retrenchment -- Prelude : Elizabeth Keckly's White House story -- James Crow's White House -- Prelude : Booker T. Washington's White House story the 1960s and the crisis of power : the White House and Black mobilization -- Prelude : Abraham Bolden's White House story -- Black challenges to the White House the campaigns to make the White House Black -- Prelude : Duke Ellington's White House story -- The latest political milestone : the Obamas in the White House -- Prelude : Michelle Obama's White House story.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Outstanding book (up to some editorial comments about the Obamas) submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 20, 2022, 9:43pm A fantastically informative book, well organized and broadly chronological while still diving into particular specific topics (e.g. entertainment, Secret Service, etc.) in ways that move beyond the time frame of the moment the topic is introduced. Books like this make it clear that whatever a person has learned about US history, it has been a limited and white-focused version of what happened. The content through most of the book was wonderful.

I gave this book 4 stars, and would have given it a 5 except for the chapter on Obama. There the author drifted from historian to editor, expressing multiple opinions rather than sticking to reporting events. I know that no one is genuinely neutral, but when he said, “Obama should do X” and “needs to do Y,” he really lost me on the validity of anything from this current time period. Also, after hundreds of pages talking about competent humans and capable women, he reached this line about Michelle Obama: “This was the historical environment and context, a trajectory through the slave plantations in South Carolina, tenant farms of Georgia, and Black working class neighborhoods of Chicago, that produced Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, a gifted, sophisticated, intelligent, committed, forthright, and physically stunning woman…” WHAT?!? “…who has brought a superb dignity to the White House.” Her body and face are irrelevant. Just STOP.