“Methought I heard him think, ‘Ay! I am fairly out and you are fairly in! See which of us will be the happiest!'” — John Adams putting words in George Washington’s mouth at Adams’ Inauguration as the Nation’s 2d President March 4, 1797
In 1865 Frederick Douglass attempted to attend the White House public reception following Lincoln’s second Inauguration. According to his own account, Douglass was stopped at the door by two policemen and was later nearly hustled out a window on a wooden plank by two other policemen. According to Elizabeth Keckley, “Strict orders [were] issued not to admit people of color.”
In 1901 Booker T. Washington was invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt. The mere idea that a President of the United States would invite a black man into the White House was met with a torrent of protest from all corners of the country. “One editor wrote: ‘With our long-matured views on the subject of social intercourse between blacks and whites, the least we can say now is that we deplore the President’s taste, and we distrust his wisdom.'”
In 2009 a black man will take up residence in the White House. There are no howling editorials, no strong-armed cops, nobody who doesn’t think the man is both eligible and worthy of the great office.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
Good luck Mr. President.
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