Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation

• Books & Literature
• History

Deborah Davis will talk about her new book. In this revealing social history, one remarkable White House dinner becomes a lens through which to examine race, politics and the lives and legacies of two of America’s most iconic figures. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to have dinner at the executive mansion with the first family. The next morning, news that the president had dined with a black man — and former slave — sent shock waves through the nation. Although African-Americans had helped build the White House and had worked for most of the presidents, not a single one had been invited to dine there. Fueled by inflammatory newspaper articles, political cartoons, and even vulgar songs, the scandal escalated and threatened to topple two of America’s greatest men.