The butler : a witness to history

The Resource The butler : a witness to history
Label
The butler : a witness to history
Title remainder
a witness to history
Statement of responsibility
Wil Haygood
Title variation
Witness to history
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
When acclaimed Washington Post writer Wil Haygood had an early hunch that Obama would win the 2008 election, he thought he'd highlight the singular moment by exploring the life of someone who had come of age when segregation was so widespread, so embedded in the culture, as to make the very thought of a black president inconceivable. He struck gold when he tracked down Eugene Allen, a butler who had served no fewer than eight presidents, from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. During his thirty-four years of service, Allen became what the Independent described as a "discreet stagehand who for three decades helped keep the show running in the most important political theatre of all." While serving tea and supervising buffets, Allen was also a witness to history as decisions about America's most momentous events were being made. Here he is at the White House while Kennedy contemplates the Cuban missile crisis: here he is again when Kennedy's widow returns from that fateful day in Dallas. Here he is when Johnson and his cabinet debate Vietnam, and here he is again when Ronald Reagan is finally forced to get tough on apartheid. Perhaps hitting closest to home was the civil rights legislation that was developed, often with passions flaring, right in front of his eyes even as his own community of neighbors, friends, and family were contending with Jim Crow America. With a foreword by the Academy Award-nominated director Lee Daniels, The Butler also includes an essay that explores the story of black images on celluloid and in Hollywood, and fifty-seven pictures of Eugene Allen, his family, the presidents he served, and the remarkable cast of the movie
Member of
Tone
Writing style
Biography type
contains biographical information
Cataloging source
OCO
Dewey number
973.92092 A425Zh 2013
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • plates
Index
no index present
LC call number
E176.47.A45
LC item number
H39 2013
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
Target audience
adult

Context

Context of The butler : a witness to history

Work of

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