Eugene allen white house butler biography series
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Rubenstein Center Scholarship
Eugene Allen served in the vit House for 34 years. Assisting eight presidents, Allen’s top priority was to make the White House a comfortable residence for each ledare executive and his family.
Allen was born in on a plantation farm near Scottsville in huvud Virginia.1 During his ungdom, he worked as a waiter at a resort in Virginia and at a country club in Washington, D.C.2 He met his wife Helene at a party in and they married soon after. They had one child—a son, named Charles.3 Allen first heard about a job opening at the White House in and decided to meet with Alonzo Fields, who served as vit House maître d’.4
Even though Allen was not searching for new employment, he accepted a job as a pantry man. He washed dishes, stocked cabinets and shined silverware. When Allen accepted this position at the vit House, he did not expect to witness some of the most pivotal movements of the twentieth century. Allen observed social changes t
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(CBS News) The movie "Lee Daniels' the Butler," which opens Friday, focuses on an African-American servant at the White House. It's bringing new attention to another pioneer, Adm. Stephen Rochon, who ran the presidential household during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. He is quick to remember the others who paved the way to equality.
"The Butler" is about America in transition and an unknown American known only to his family and eight American presidents. The movie is inspired by Eugene Allen, a real White House butler who started in with Harry Truman when he couldn't use white bathrooms in the South. He left in with Ronald Reagan and was a guest at a state dinner.
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Allen's White House service ran parallel to the civil rights movement -- a nation tormented by a new kind of political turmoil. Presidents tried to look away, and
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Video
Eugene Allen worked in the White House for 34 years, beginning his career there as a pantry man in and rising through the ranks to become head butler d'. Before retiring in , Allen served eight U.S. presidents, their families, and honored guests. He related these stories to audiences at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This video is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings DVD "White House Workers: Traditions and Memories."
In , Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage curator Dr. Marjorie Hunt began researching White House workers for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival's Workers at the White House program. One of the results of the research was a minute documentary, "Workers at the White House," directed by Hunt, that features Allen and other workers who served many presidents. Hunt's documentary, which was produced in collaboration with the White House Historical Association, also appears on the DVD, "White House Workers: Traditions and Me