From a Washington Post article.

A Butler Well Served by This Election

For 34 Years, Eugene Allen Carried White House Trays With Pride. Now There's Even More Reason to Carry Himself That Way.

He saw eight presidential administrations come and go, often working six days a week. "I never missed a day of work," Allen says.

His is a story from the back pages of history. A figure in the tiniest of print. The man in the kitchen.

He was there while America's racial history was being remade: Brown v. Board of Education, the Little Rock school crisis, the 1963 March on Washington, the cities burning, the civil rights bills, the assassinations.

When he started at the White House in 1952, he couldn't even use the public restrooms when he ventured back to his native Virginia. "We had never had anything," Allen, 89, recalls of black America at the time. "I was always hoping things would get better."

Tribe, 2006

• RE: History of blacks in the White House,cahaya, 01:39 PM, 11-08-08
  • RE: History of blacks in the White House,Silvergirl1, 02:06 PM, 11-08-08
    • RE: History of blacks in the White House,CTgirl, 03:44 PM, 11-08-08

I really enjoyed reading this story.

Alas, you've earned a lime helmet! It was buried in another poly thresd, so perhaps folks who missed it there will catch it here. Definitely worth reading.

I guess I didn't see that because I wasn't very active on the boards yesterday. I did not see a thread where I thought this would fit.

*adds lime helmet to collection*

Tribe, 2006

I haven't read all the political threads either, so I didn't see it before.

I thought it was a wonderful read. And I loved the way they used the butler's reminiscing to show how African Americans have gained more power in the Executive Wing of the White House.

Another Tribe Creation