Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 58, originally released in print form in 2020. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. Š 2020 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.
REFLECTIONS on History Old and New on the wall of my office on Lafayette Square hangs a photograph of my classmates and me on the lawn of the Capitol taken during my grammar school trip to Washington, D.C. I have vivid memories of that trip and visits to the White House, Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, memorials, and the Capitol. I have no idea how much influence that trip at an early age had on my eventual career trajectory, but I do know that I retain special memories of those early visits to our nation’s capital and remember the trip fondly through photographs. Recently going through the belongings of my mother, who passed away in 2015, I came across the photograph of the White House published here, which was one of a group of photographs that she had taken during a 1949 family trip to Washington, D.C. She could have never dreamed, then, as a 19-year-old girl from Durham, North Carolina, that her son would one day have the privilege of working with the White House Historical Association. Now in this role, I have the honor of working with my colleagues to share extraordinary images of the White House with people across the country and around the world through our online resources and social media. The Association’s online digital library has tens of thousands of unique and insightful images related to the White House and its history. It is a lens through which objects and art in the White House collection can be seen, understood, and appreciated much more deeply. Photographs stir memories and
document the past in a moment of time. For this reason, I remain enthusiastic about First Lady Michelle Obama’s decision in 2015 to reopen White House tours to photography by visitors. Personal photographs allow individuals to share their own stories and thoughts about each of those extraordinary rooms on the State Floor. Since the beginning of the Association in 1961, education has been
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Stewart McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House in 2020 (top left), and third from left in front row with his fifth grade classmates, teachers, and chaperones in 1971 (above) on a trip to Washington, D.C.
a fundamental part of our mission. Clearly the visual images that we publish here in White House History Quarterly, as well as in our guidebook—soon to be in its twenty-fifth edition—and in our other books and publications, invite our readers to experience these special places in the “people’s house.” Since our last Quarterly was published, our offices at Decatur House were in the center of the protest activity
L E F T : B R U C E W H I T E F O R T H E W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N R I G H T : C O U R T E S Y O F S T E WA R T M C L A U R I N
STEWART D. M C LAURIN PRESIDENT, WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
following the death of George Floyd. Although Lafayette Park has been the scene of regular protests since the suffragists began demonstrating there in 1917, this was the first time our building became a canvas for protest expression. One poignant phrase, captured in the photograph (below right), was central to the graffiti on the north side of Decatur House. Ironically, this wing includes the historic slave quarters. Part of our research for the past three years has focused on slavery in the President’s Neighborhood. The aerial image of the White House taken from the north (below) captures the President’s Neighborhood after the protests of earlier this summer.
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P : C O U R T E S Y O F S T E WA R T M C L A U R I N / W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N / AIRPHOTOSLIVE.COM
above A photograph of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue taken in 1949 by Stewart McLaurin’s mother, Gwendolyn Stafford McLaurin, captures the White House before the clear view of the North Entrance was obscured by hedges planted during the Truman Renovation.
above Graffiti on the H Street side of the Association’s headquarters at the Stephen Decatur House from protests in the President’s Neighborhood in June 2020. left An aerial view of Sixteenth Street Northwest leading to Lafayette Park and the White House. Following the protests this summer, this portion of Sixteenth Street was named Black Lives Matter Plaza. Decatur House is shown far right at the northwest corner of Lafayette Park.
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