How Teddy Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington’s dinner changed history
nypost.comIn his new book, “Teddy and Booker T: How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality,” bestselling author Brian Kilmeade writes of how Theodore Roosevelt invited intellectual and former slave Book T.
Washington to dinner at the White House at the very beginning of his presidency. Roosevelt sought Washington’s counsel as he struggled to steer the country — and especially the South — forward in the wake of Jim Crow laws and racial violence.
Here, an excerpt: On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 16, 1901, Booker T. Washington and Theodore Roosevelt dined in the Executive Mansion with the first family.
High spirits prevailed; however, in this circle of Roosevelt’s family affection and friendship, Washington was a stranger. When dinner finished, Roosevelt and Washington retired to discuss the South and government appointees at length, and Washington left to catch a night train to New York.As the train rumbled north, Booker T.
Read more on nypost.com
