mrs. depriest was invited. there were several different lists of drafts of guests who were to come, and the final draft shows mrs. hoover's sister, her secretaries, supporters of her husband's from different representatives. an invitation was sent to mrs. depriest on june 5th, the date of the fourth tea. it was emphasized to be very confidential about this and to caution the messenger from refraining giving any information about it. the event was pleasant and held in the green room of the white house. however, afterwards there was a storm of criticism in the press mostly from the south and also some state legislatures issued resolutions of condemnation. for today there are 1,000 letters on file for mrs. hoover at the hoover presidential library and almost as many for the president as well. just as an example, one letter says "mrs. hoover, you remember that florida, virginia, north carolina, tennessee, and texas gave mr. hoover a large majority last fall. well, we thought we were putting a real white lady in the

mr. depriest as a fulfillment of a prophecy. why? because the words expressed in the house floor by congressman h. white of north carolina in 1901, he said, mr. chairman, is perhaps the negro's temporary farewell in the american congress, but let me say phoenix like, he will rise up some day and come again. congressman white was the last black to serve in congress until depriest was elected. up in the visitor's gallery, which was segregated at that time, sat the family of congressman depriest. according to the "chicago tribune," the words often heard whispered in the gallery were, there he is, when people spotted depriest. to overt attempts to keep depriest from being seated, the speaker of the house nicklas long worth, administered the oath to all members at once rather than individually. longworth's decision was influenced by his wife, alice roosevelt longworth, who has been urged by her good friend congresswoman ruth mccormick, who was also another newly elected member from illinois. depriest's name was the first on the list of th

mrs. depriest drinks tea." 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 depriest family. i said, you do? it turned out she and barbara depriest 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 depriest 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 n

mr. depriest. as a congressman, do we know what committee work congressman depriest was influential on or involved in? >> committee work oscar depriest did? >> as far as legislation concerns, his record is somewhat limited. he was successful in getting an amendment to build and establish the civilian konz vaconservatio corps in 1933, which made any kind of -- you couldn't discriminate for race or religion when people were looking to get a job with the conservation board, which opened up thousands and thousands of jobs for african-americans. so he was very successful in that regard. he did introduce an anti-lynching bill into the hou house, twice, that was defeated. it really kind of blows your mind when you think about the kind of environment that he had to function in when an anti-lynching bill -- it didn't even make lynching a crime. it held accountable the authorities in whatever town or county who were holding a poor sole in their jail. if a mob came and dragged out this poor soul and lynched hi

mrs. depriest resided in segregated communities in both chicago and the nation's capital. their home in chicago was located at 4536 up through 4356 south parkway which is now known as martin luther king drive. although they owned the entire complex, they occupied the second floor of the three story building from 1929 up until their deaths in 1961. the home that the depriests purchased in washington, d.c. at 419 u street northwest was located in an exclusively black neighborhood. known as ladroit park. they bought their home from mrs. susan brown, who was a widow. she and her former husband had owned the home since at least 1910. while living at 419 u street, hiram worked as an elevator operator at the post office and susan was a telephone operator. it's interesting to note the difference in the types of employment for blacks who were living on the 400 block of ledroit park in 1910 versus the positions blacks held in 1929 when the de priests joined the community. when the depriests arrived, they joined a number of other prominent black families such as dr. wilkinson who liv

depriests purchased in washington, d.c. at 419 u street northwest was located in an exclusively black neighborhood. known as ladroit park. they bought their home from mrs. susan brown, who was a widow. she and her former husband had owned the home since at least 1910. while living at 419 u street, hiram worked as an elevator operator at the post office and susan was a telephone operator. it's interesting to note the difference in the types of employment for blacks who were living on the 400 block of ledroit park in 1910 versus the positions blacks held in 1929 when the de priests joined the community. when the depriests arrived, they joined a number of other prominent black families such as dr. wilkinson who lived at 406 u street, clara who lived at 414 u street. she was a pharmacist and the daughter of john smith towho waa lawyer and ambassador. there was percy a. roy who was a craftsman. in 1910, the browns neighbors at 401 u street worked as a dining car waiter and a maid. other neighbors of the browns worked as a traveling salesman, janitor, messenger for the navy, porter at a hotel, a barber, a chauffeur and a map folder. ledroit park was founded