Niggers in the White House

The poem, as it appeared in the Kentucky New Era on March 13, 1903

"Niggers in the White House" is a poem that was published in newspapers around the United States between 1901 and 1903.[1] The poem was written in reaction to an October 1901 White House dinner hosted by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, who had invited Booker T. Washington—an African-American presidential adviser—as a guest. The poem reappeared in 1929 after First Lady Lou Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover, invited Jessie De Priest, the wife of African-American congressman Oscar De Priest, to a tea for wives of congressmen at the White House.[2] The identity of the author—who used the byline "unchained poet"—remains unknown.

Both visits triggered widespread condemnation by many throughout the United States, particularly throughout the South. Elected representatives in Congress and state legislatures from southern states voiced objections to the presence of a black person as a guest of the First Family.

The poem is composed of fourteen four-line stanzas, in each of which the second and fourth lines rhyme. The poem also frequently uses the epithet nigger (over 20 times) as a term to represent African Americans. Republican Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut described the poem as "indecent, obscene doggerel."[3]

  1. ^ "Niggers in the White House". Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  2. ^ Jones, Stephen A.; Freedman, Eric (2011). Presidents and Black America: A Documentary History. Los Angeles: CQ Press. p. 349. ISBN 9781608710089.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference balt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).