and they were mostly northern and liberal periodicals, but also individuals. a person by the name of a.e. bruce says, "mrs. hoover, we have been watching with much interest the newspaper accounts of recent occurrences at the white house. fortunately, or unfortunately, we are white folks, but we have never been able to convince ourselves that the color of our skin had any particular relation to the size of our brains or the use to which we put them. and we are quite sure in our own minds that the nondiscriminatory action which you have recently taken should merit only the approval of all right-minded people." and how did the congressman respond? he was not one to shy away from annen opportunity to shy away from civil rights and i'm sure depriest is going to give you an idea of his personality.

but when asked about his opinion, he said, and "time" magazine quoted him, i am delighted beyond measure at the fine social context my wife was able to make at the white house. she greatly enjoyed herself and is greatly delighted." about a month after the affair, mrs. de priest addressed 300 women in the church in chicago about the affair. she was quoted as saying, "the president's wife is a wonderful hostess. i believe she possesses a great soul. she's quite modest, but she has all the dignity her position demands. she went on the say, "the ladies at the party discussed such problems as you and i may discuss on sunday a afternoon in this church. there was no excitement when i entered the white house. all the storm and criticism has been stirred up since and outside of the capital and mostly below the mason dixon line.

" two years later on january 29th, 1931, congressman and mrs. de priest, who were still residents of 419 u street northwest were invited to the white house for a reception as guests of the president and first lady hoover. the press reported that they mingled with the speaker of the house long worth and other dignitaries in the white house. this time there was no storm of criticism. congressman de priest served in the 71st, 72nd, and 73rd sessions of congress. he's remembered for courageously challenging segregation and racial discrimination. he fought for blacks to have the right to eat in the house restaurant rather than confined to a separate facility. he fought for the reduction of the number of seats in the house for states that disfranchised blacks. just as congressman white had

done. he fought to honor and assist former slaves who were 75 years and older by giving them a federal pension. he fought to authorize federal courts to change the location of a trial that right to impartiality was at risk due to race, color, or creed as in the scottsboro case. he risked his life speaking ardently all over the country, including the south, to make states and counties responsible for the prevention of lynching. yet even in his home state of illinois, he found himself being burned in effigy by the kkk. and when newspaper headlines and editorials all over the country mocked the attendance of his wife at the white house for a tea at the invitation of the nation's first lady, he fought for her right, respect, and dignity as an american citizen and as the wife of a duly elected member of the united states congress. the de priests left 419 u street

and moved to 1923 15th street. when they left that home, the new owners found thousands of copies of the u.s. constitution that congressman de priest used to distribute to citizens to promote equal justice under the law. in concluding, i just want to share with you as i was told to share about the research process, as he has already indicated, he gave me an opportunity to pursue something i have been wanting to pursue for almost 20 years in between raising kids and going to school and working. so i'm very grateful to bill for that. and i first discovered the story while researching some things randomly in the research center at howard university where i work. and i saw an article called

"mrs. de priest drinks tea." by w.e. dubois. and then i was able to reach out to the hoover presidential library and they shared some of these letters. then i happened to finally mention to my mother what i was trying to do, and she said, you know, i know a member of the de priest family. i said, you do? it turned out she and barbara de priest bowled on the same league. so i reached out to barbara. barbara, are you here? you and your grandchildren and your children. maybe people can say hi to members of the de priest family. and when i reached out to her, her husband had just died. she said i'll get back to you. when she did, i was in school taking the course with bill. she wanted to make sure that her artifacts weren't just sitting in dusty shelves and they would get public exposure. so i thank the white house historical society for honoring

that prayer. and also the story about the documents in the home on 15th street, a colleague of mine james k. hill, i don't know if he's here, but he happened to tell me that story which was a nice little bit. but as i did the research, the big question was to me, what did she look like? because there was so much negativity. then i found this picture. my father said you work in a library. why don't you go down there and see what's in there. to go look at the black press and there she was in "the chicago defender" and "the washington tribune." they had taken the time to get these formal portraits done to document that day in history.

and then when i met barbara, she was able to share more. on a personal basis, i think the other thing that touched me was i actually happened to be in the gallery of the house visitors gallery in 1969 when my own father was sworn into office. and in 1969, there had not been that many members, nine since 1877, the other picture i had had shown you. so it meant a lot to me to consider the perspective of the de priests' experience. this is one of the pictures that barbara shared with us, which i was so grateful to know. and in concluding, i just want to say that it seems so ironic that we also have another family from chicago in the white house today and we don't have these issues anymore. and so i think it's quite wonderful. [ applause ] >> so let me just thank

everybody who helped make this happen. i feel that it is a blessing because i don't think these things could have happened. they weren't humanly possible to bring about on our own. so i thank god for it. thank you. [ applause ] this program explores african-american work and life in washington, d.c., especially this in the area around the white house known as president's park. next a discussion descendants of the de priests and jennings and wormly families. this is 40 minutes. >> for our final session today, we have a treat. we are pleased to assemble family members who have heard many of the stories that were shared this morning and this afternoon. but they bring their own personal perspectives to further illuminate them. and as we started to do with shelley, there are a lot of family members here today. and i would love it if you would stand up and let us welcome you.

everyone here representing the families here on stage. [ applause ] >> i had to bring my own audience. professor marya mcquirter, who will introduce our panelist and moderate this discussion, is an authority with broad and deep knowledge of african-american history in the nation's capital. as just one example of how she's shared this knowledge, many of you, i think, because i know we're out of them, have picked up her award-winning guide "the african-american heritage trail of washington, d.c." she also cofounded the d.c. community heritage project, which has held a series of public workshops throughout the city offering training to grass roots organizers and historians interested in preserving local heritage resources.

please welcome marya mcquirter. >> good afternoon. can you all hear me? excellent. it's a pleasure to be with you today at this enlightening and important conference. fittingly for the final panel of the conference, we have descendants of four lafayette square families. the de priests, the wormleys, the syphaxs, and the jennings. and i say it's fitting because part of what we, and especially the white house historical association, is charged with is figuring out what the meanings of these families are for us today. and who better to give insight into the marrying of the history, the present and the future, than the descendants who embody that continuum. today we have phil de priest, donet graves, steve hammond, and angela hayes-toliver. you all have their bios in the program, but i'll go say a few words about them.

starting with our first panelist is phil de priest, who is a resident of chicago and is an investment executive with mb financial investments. it's wonderful that he's here visiting us from chicago, one of my favorite cities, after d.c., of course. next we have don graves who gave us an earlier presentation that we all heard and enjoyed. he's a lawyer visiting us from cleveland, ohio. >> another favorite city. >> yes, exactly. of course. and a descendant of one of the renowned families of d.c., the wormlies. our third panelist is steve hammond. he's an associate director for hazards and here with us locally in reston, virginia. and then finally, our fourth panelist is angela hayes-toliver, a health analyst with the u.s. department of health and human services and she's a lifelong washingtonian. so i welcome you all here and

look forward to hearing the wonderful things you have to say about your families. our panelists will speak for five minutes as they appear in the program and then we will give you the audience an opportunity to ask them questions. so let's start with phil de priest. >> thank you. first of all, i want to thank neil horseman, john riley, alexandra lane and brenda fike for putting together this the great project on my great grandparents. and of course, shelley stokes-hammond for a great piece. i wanted to embellish a few of the stories that shelley had spoken of. in particular, the congressional dining room incident of 1934.

now oscar de priest was sworn in in 1929. the actual incident didn't take place until 1934. when that happened, lindsey warren, who was a democrat from north carolina, had mr. morris lewis, who is my great grandfather's secretary, and his son ejected from the dining room. now, he had been eating there for the better part of five years already. and it was more of a political move by representative warren than anything else. but nevertheless it started a huge controversy. my great grandfather had been dining there and bringing my great grandmother in, my son, my

grandfather who is the tall gentleman to the left of my grandfather. he had also befriended a porter who worked for the washington, d.c. transportation department. and he mentioned he was one of the darkest people he'd ever met and would bring him into the congressional dining room, a, because he was a friend, and b, because he wanted to piss off members of the southern delegation at the same time. i don't know if it was this gentleman up here or not, but the gentleman behind him has a distinctive grin on his face. it's almost a smirk. so it may or may not have been him. anyway, it started quite a controversy and made headlines around the country. my great grandfather introduced legislation for an official investigation into this matter.

on the house floor he refuted the claim that african-americans had been banned from the restaurant because he had eaten there ever since he had gotten elected. my great grandfather said on the floor of the house of representatives, and this is a quote" if we deny of constitutional rights under the dome of the capital, where in god's name would we get them?" he said later on, if we allow this challenge to g without correcting it, it will set an example where people will say congress itself approves of segregation. he had a resolution which was to say the least hostile towards any civil rights initiative in this country, let alone in congress. what he did, in fact, was kept the measure alive using a parliamentary procedure. he collected 145 member signatures on a discharge

petition to bring the legislation to the noor for a vote. fl he collected 145 signatures on . fl he collected 145 signatures ol vote. fl he collected 145 signatures oo vote. fl he collected 145 signatures oo vote. fl he collected 145 signatures ofo vote. fl he collected 145 signatures on a the house, in fact, voted in favor of de priest's call for an investigation by an investigatory committee, but unfortunately, the panel created -- that created the state policy of segregation split along party lines, three democrats and two republicans. and they refused to recommend any revisions. so in effect, the house officially kept the dining room segregated and there it died after that. i want to talk momentarily about the day he was sworn in to congress. after the swearing in was done, the hopes, dreams and aspirations of 12 minute million

african-americans were lifted to a height that was never felt before in the 20th century. they had no representation. there was a reporter for the "chicago defender" who said and i quote, as he walked down the aisle his face was grim, almost to the point of sternness as if the solemnist of the occasion rest on his shoulders. i think it dawned on him at that point that he was the sole voice for 12 million african-americans in this country. i can't imagine the weight of that sp responsibility

that responsibility that he must have felt at that time. think about that. one voice for every african-american in this country. for the next six years, he was the only member of color in the entire united states congress. this was 1929 in washington, d.c., it's a southern town. so we dealt with in your face racism every single day he was there. for every restaurant in town for the fourth congress, he dealt with a hostile, racist environment, yet he was able to succeed in advancing the betterment of african-americans. he would do what he had to do. crossing party lines was not an issue to him. if he find supporter be it democrat or republican, then so be it. he would welcome that support. he would acknowledge that support. he was the black caucus of one. there's 42 now in the house and senate. by then a black caucus of just him.

i know my time is limited. i have been accused of being long winded before in the past. in closing, his efforts to try to level the playing field for his african-american constituents never ended. when he left congress, after two failed attempts to get re-elected, he went back to the chicago city council in 1943. in doing so, he had reached out to mayor ed kelly, who was a democrat, and got his support in passing a fair employment practice act in the city of chicago that depriest had introduced in the city council, which, by the way, had failed in the state legislature in illinois earlier that year. he wrote an open letter addressed to his republican voters, friends and citizens in 1944 because he had been -- by

the chicago newspapers for supporting kelly, who was a democrat. he said, and i quote "i contend then and i still contend that if negro people are good enough to give their lives for their country, they are then entitled whenever qualified to hold any position in their country's government which they are helping to maintain through their taxes, their blood, and their loyalty." i thought this really hits a nail on the head where oscar de priest where the core of his character really came from. [ applause ] >> thank you, phil. we'll have don next. >> i'll pass it down. >> thank you, again, everyone. i really won't bore you with more. i do have two observations. one of the things that really is

particularly fascinating to me is when you start thinking about what life was like if you were living in 1820, 30, on through the 19th century here in this city in this building on this corner on that corner, i mean, it's just a phenomenal experience. the other piece that's particularly significant to me is that we just don't know. until i was able to peel back some of the stories by reading newspaper accounts that were contemporaneous with the time, you begin to fashion together what life was really like. there are so many stories where, for example, even though wormley was a close friend of vice president wilson when he died, they had been friends before he had become vice president. he was going to attend the

funeral train to return back to new england. and members of congress said the only way that wormley would be there if he were the caterer to the train. they ended up not having to do that, but those are the kinds of hurdles that people of color had to overcome, even though they were already well known around the world, presidents all knew them, they still treated them as fourth class citizens. they are the stories of in the newspapers of the not too long ago boston, cincinnati, cleveland, they all use the "n" word in the media. for people of color. it was just a second way of talking about people. just think. what exact that's had on all the generations we're dealing with today. when you see in your trusted newspaper publication the way they denigrated.

finally, i have one thing in all this experience i have come across friends and family members who say it's a great story and so forth. i say everybody has a great story. everybody here in this room has a fabulous story. one friend of mine said, well, we don't have much history. i said, wait a minute. first of all, how did you get where you are? more importantly, maybe they were working class folks. you have been the highest ranking african-american executive in a major u.s. corporation. maybe the buck stops here and the story starts here. make sure that your children pass it on. because the only reason i can speak to what i can speak to today is because some ancestor 150 years ago thought it was important that we knew we held ourselves high as african-americans. that's all i have to say. [ applause ] >> thank you, don.

we'll have steve next. >> i couldn't agree with don more. can you hear me? i'm just so excited to be here. it's great to see so many faces here who have an interest in this. i'm driven by this. people that we see. i wanted to start by saying that i hope you've had a chance to look at the poster. i'm the one that brought the poster there. if you haven't had a chance, before you go today, i would ask you to go up and take a look and you can see some of the things we have done here. i want to thank the white house historical association for helping us to put this all together. for donna who's in the room who basically helped to put that

poster, the concept together and my cousin roy who is in california that put it on paper to make it something you all could see and make it real. there are a number of facts that help to build that family tree. something that you all could see and make it real. there are a number of side factors who helped to build that family tree. it's not something you do by yourself. it's something that takes a family to really see where you've come. the goal is to provide a legacy for those that are going to follow us. hopefully, the eighth and ninth generations will have something to tie back to where they came. to tie back to. people in d.c. are familiar with this name, but the most well known is the offspring of charles and maria over at arlington. you're probably familiar with that. my current research has to deal with nancy syphax. she is the sister of charles. i'm interested in documenting the lives, movement, and the relationships between nancy, her daughter margaret, which is in

the picture behind me, and her son peter joseph. i'm exploring nancy's life in the slate of john gadsby's tavern and house. nancy was born in the early 1790s. probably in virginia, but possible in d.c. we're not sure when her daughter margaret was born. we think it was the mid-18 teens. the story indicates that he and his wife's confidence brought their slaves with them when they moved to the cater house. that's consistent with nancy living in alexandria and showing in the decatur house. she's thought to live there from 1836 to at least 1870. part of my research revolves around understanding why margaret would have been sold. i'm just driven by trying to understand the trade and why somebody would be sold.

perhaps her birth was the result of an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy. we know that gadsby was a slave trader. perhaps he arranged the sale of margaret. it was not uncommon for young female slaves to be purchased by slave traders to be used as concubines and later result to either become servants, cooks, or even work in a brothel. margaret could have been sold in virginia at an early age or until just before she gave birth to her first child in new orleans in 1840. we're now beginning to research the gads by records on slave transactions to see what we can find on when that may have occurred.by records on slave transactions to see what we can find on when that may have occurred. as you're probably aware, the domestic slave trade increased after the united states banned the importation of slaves in

1808. the ports of d.c. and alexandria were among the largest in the number of slaves shipped to the south. new orleans, louisiana, was often the destinations where slaves ended up being sold. we don't know how margaret was moved to new orleans. she could have gone by ship or she could have had to walk to new orleans. based on a birth certificate, we know margaret gave birth to a can son in april 1842 and he was given the name peter joseph. the father was an austrian merchant who was named sparrow joseph who came to search of his fortune. we have not been able to document the relationship between margaret and him, but we know that peter was born free when his mother had him pay prior to his birth. this lead me to the speculation about margaret possibly been forced to work in a brothel. at age 13, peter wrote a letter to his grandmother nancy.

somehow he knew that nancy was at the decatur house. i don't know how he knew that. but they probably also remained in contact with one another. at any rate at the 1857 letter provides an interesting clue. that letter is over on the wall if you get a chance to look at that. finally, we know that peter was a civil war veteran. he's over on the wall at the african-american civil war memorial. in 1869, peter and his wife and their first child moved to washington, d.c. we know that grandmother nancy was still alive in the 1870 census because she shows up in decatur house in 1870. the cooler climate didn't suit, so they remained not much longer than a year and moved back to new orleans. together peter joseph and cora had ten children, seven of which lived to be adults.