''The Black History of the White House'' is a book by Clarence Lusane concerning the history of the African-American community's relationship to government and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

as a symbol as well as a place of employment. The book begins with the founding of the United States and continues to the first few years of the

Barack Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

Summary

At the beginning of each chapter Lusane provides a narrative of an African-American's "White House Story" ranging from an escaped slave once belonging to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

to the First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

. Topics discussed included in the book are the

Founding Fathers The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence ...

, the abolitionist movement, slave-owning presidents,

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

and the Civil Rights Movement.

Critical reception

Following its 2010 publication ''The Black History of the White House'' has received much attention from the political community. To acknowledge the work, author Clarence Lusane was invited to the

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to speak with staff in March 2011.

References

External links

C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Clarence Lusane about ''The Black History of the White House'', August 28, 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black History Of The White House 2010 non-fiction books American history books Books about African-American history 21st-century history books