Jessie De Priest

Jessie De Priest
De Priest on June 12, 1929, during the "Tea Incident", taken by Addison N. Scurlock
Born
Jessie Williams

(1870-09-03)September 3, 1870
DiedMarch 31, 1961(1961-03-31) (aged 90)
Resting placeGraceland Cemetery
Occupation(s)Congressional spouse, music teacher
Known forTea at the White House incident
Spouse
(m. 1898; died 1951)
Children2

Jessie De Priest (née Williams; September 3, 1870 – March 31, 1961) was an American music teacher who was married to Oscar Stanton De Priest, the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress in the 20th century.[1] Jessie De Priest was the first African-American wife of a U.S. congressman elected in the 1900s.[2] She is best known for her involvement in an incident known as the "Tea at the White House". First Lady Lou Henry Hoover invited De Priest to the traditional tea along with several other congressmen's wives, resulting in racist backlash from media outlets and the public.

  1. ^ "Pathbreakers: Oscar Stanton DePriest and Jessie L. Williams DePriest". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "DE PRIEST, Oscar Stanton | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved February 25, 2020.