The Black History of the White House

Those of you who have seen the recent movie The Butler may be interested in a speaker who will be coming to the Sherwood Regional Library on November 19th at 7:00 p.m. We are pleased to host author Clarence Lusane for a discussion of his book The Black History of the White House. Dr. Lusane is a professor at American University’s School of International Service where he is Program Director for Regional and Comparative Studies. He teaches courses in a variety of topics including race relations, social movements and comparative politics. He is also a syndicated columnist for the Black Voices news network. Dr. Clarence Lusane’s book captures the stories of African Americans both enslaved and employed at the White House, including Lynwood Westray, upon whose life the The Butler is based. The book details numerous African Americans’ contributions to the United States and informs its readers about black political history. Among those included are Mary McLeod Bethune, who worked with black officials during the Roosevelt administration, and Walter White, who was instrumental in the development of Truman’s commission on civil rights.

Lusane also traces the relationship between the African-American experience in the United States and the White House as a symbol of power, democracy, freedom and independence. As he writes in his book, not only was the White House built by slave labor, but more than one in four presidents were involved in human trafficking and slavery.

As residents and neighbors of the Gum Springs neighborhood, adjacent to the Sherwood Regional Library, this early history will be especially illuminating. Gum Springs was home to many freed and escaped slaves including some freed by Martha Washington. According to the Gum Springs Museum around 500 Gum Springs residents are descendants of former slaves who resided in the area. Dr. Lusane’s appearance at Sherwood Regional Library reminds us in Mount Vernon that Bethlehem Baptist Church at Fordson and Sherwood Hall Lane celebrates 150 years in our community just a few months after observing the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s I Have A Dream speech.

Copies of the book will be for sale the evening of the event. We hope you can join us. To register, please call 703-765-3645 ext. 4 or sign up online at: https://va.evanced.info/fairfaxcounty/lib/eventsignup.asp?ID=225173.