Quick Fact

THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO BE INVITED T6O THE WHITE HOUSE FOR DINNER.

In the autumn of 1901, Booker T. Washington, the great educator, author, and orator, was on a speaking tour. In

In the autumn of 1901, Booker T. Washington, the great educator, author, and orator, was on a speaking tour. In Mississippi, he received a telegram from President Theodore Roosevelt. (President William McKinley had been assassinated less than two months before, an event which led to Roosevelt being sworn in as President.) The telegram asked Washington to come to the capitol for a conference. When Washington arrived on the afternoon of October 16, 1901, he received an invitation to dine with the President at 8:00p that evening. According to Roosevelt biographer.