"Niggers in the White House " is a poem published in newspapers across the United States between 1901 and 1903. The poem was written in reaction to a White House dinner in October 1901 hosted by Republican president Theodore Roosevelt. , who invited Booker T. Washington, African-American presidential adviser, as a guest. The poem reappeared in 1929 after First Lady Louover, wife of President Herbert Hoover, invited the wife of African-American congressman Oscar De Priest to drink tea for the wife of a congressman in the White House.
Both visits sparked widespread condemnation by many people across the United States, particularly throughout the South. Elected representatives in Congress and state legislatures from the southern states voiced an objection to the presence of an African American as a guest of the First Family.
This poem consists of fourteen stanzas of four lines, in each of the rhymes of the second and fourth lines. This poem also often uses the titular nickname "negro" (more than 20 times) as a term to represent African Americans. Republican Senator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut described the poem as "obscene and obscene doggers."
The identity of the author, who uses the byline "untrained poet", is still unknown.
Video Niggers in the White House
History
The poem was written in 1901, appearing in Missouri Sedalia Sentinel on October 25th. It follows widespread news reports that President Theodore Roosevelt and his family had dinner with African-American presidential adviser Booker T. Washington at the White House on October 16 that year. Some journalists and politicians condemn Roosevelt's actions, claiming, among other things, that such acts make both men look the same in terms of social status. Democratic Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina said, "President Roosevelt's actions in entertaining the nigger will require us to kill a thousand negroes in the South before they will study their place again."
The poem was reprinted at Greenwood Commonwealth in January 1903, after which it circulated in newspapers during 1903, including on The Dispatch on February 18, 1903 and > Kentucky New Era on March 10, 1903. A copy of a carded poem cut from Sedalia Sentinel forms part of Theodore Roosevelt paper stored by the Library of Congress. A typed note has been added, stating, "This publication shows something about what happened with Missouri."
Poetry reappeared in June 1929 because of public outrage sparked by other White House invitations. First Lady Lou Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover, invited Oscar DePriest's wife to a tea ceremony. De Priest was a member of the House of Representatives and the only African-American member in Congress in 1929. Hoover has a series of teas with wives of congressmen and Jessie De Priest is among the guests. Members of the congress and the southern newspaper reacted with a public statement on the event. Democratic Senator Coleman Blease of South Carolina filed the poem in a senate resolution entitled, "Requesting Chief Executive to honor the White House" in the upper house of Congress, read aloud on the floor of the United States Senate. However, the resolution, including poetry, is by unanimous agreement issued from the Congressional Records due to protests from Republican senator Walter Edge (from New Jersey) and Hiram Bingham (from Connecticut). Bingham describes the poem as "obscene and obscene doggies" that give "violations to hundreds of thousands of our citizens and [...] to our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution". Blease pulled back his resolution, but stated that he did "because it infringes his friend, Senator Bingham and not because it might give any offense to the Negro race". Scholar David S. Day argues that the use of poetry by Blease may be a populist movement - "a normal South demagogic tactic" - but that Hoover's supporters see it as something that transcends even the "vast margin" of partisan political point.
Maps Niggers in the White House
Composition
This poem consists of 14 stanzas with four lines per stanza. Each stanza is written in a simple 4-line rhyme scheme (abcb). The term "negro" is used in all verses except two.
In the poem of Congress Blease version, the last four stanzas are omitted. The last three stanzas mention President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and Booker T. Washington under the names and names of their respective children.
Edward J. Robinson links poetic comments about racial marriage to the "Southern rape complex", which states that racial purity is threatened by the possibility of ethnic separation in society, and by African-American men's interests in Caucasian women.
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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