theGrio’s summer 2012 books round-up: Great beach reading on black love, African-American history and more!
theGRIO REPORT - Whether you are looking for words of wisdom from a top chef or a former of secretary of state -- or perhaps a little history or just a great story -- theGrio has your summer 2012 reading list covered...
Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation, by Deborah Davis, Atria Books, $26.00.
Guess who’s coming to dinner, indeed. In the fall of 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt shook things up when he invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at White House; it was nothing short of a scandal.
Roosevelt, the youngest American president and trailblazer at the time, believed that in order for the nation to prosper, blacks needed to play a bigger role, and he realized that the black vote in the South would strengthen Republicans in power. He reached out to Booker T. Washington, the distinguished educator and leader, as a consultant, and their liaison led to the infamous White House dinner. The action, a former slave sitting at the table with a president, provoked a series of highly inflammatory articles and outrage, from whites and blacks, which divided the country and threatened to take down the two leaders.
Davis draws parallels between the two men, including their admiration for Lincoln, and gives us a thorough account of the turbulent politics of that era. This one meeting shifted the national discussion on race.
