Westside Gazette Newspaper Black History TIDBITS

Frederic Morrow According to historical records, E. Frederic Morrow was the first African American to hold a position in the White House, serving as a staff member during President Eisenhower’s administration, marking the first time a Black person held an executive position on a President’s staff at the White House.

Alonzo Fields (April 10, 1900 – March 22, 1994)[2] was an American butler who served at the White House for twenty-one years under presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. Of those twenty-one years, twenty were spent as the White House chief butler.

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress (1968) and the first African American to make a serious run for President of the United States (1972). She made history for her political runs and for the actions she took while in office.

Sally Hemmings Three U.S. presidents have allegedly fathered illegitimate children with slaves. The most well-known and substantial of these allegations relates to Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemmings; who was also the half-sister of Jefferson’s wife Martha (with whom he had already fathered six children).

Who was the first Black first lady in the White House?

First Lady Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is a lawyer, writer, and the wife of the 44th and current President, Barack Obama. She is the first African American First Lady of the United States.