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WHEN HE ARRIVED at the Washington home of his friend Whitefield McKinlay, Booker T. Washington was handed an invitation from the president to dine at the White House. Roosevelt later wrote privately that he had talked so much with Washington "it seemed to me that it was natural to ask him to dinner to talk over this work, and the very fact that I felt a moment's qualm on inviting him because of his color made me ashamed of myself and made me hasten to send the invita- tion." Roosevelt added wistfuUy that he had never thought of "its bearing one way or the other, either on my own future or on anything else." Booker discussed the invitation with McKinlay and probably with other close friends in the District. He knew that no black person had ever dined at the White House, and he surely remem- bered the harsh criticism of President Cleveland for hosting Queen LiUuokalani of Hawaii at the White House in 1895. But the invitation did come from the pres- ident of the United States, and one could hardly decUne a request from that quarter. He later wrote privately that he accepted the dinner with his eyes open, knowing its potential consequences. He had a day to think about it and count the costs. He decided that it rep- resented "recognition of the race and no matter what per- sonal condemnation it brought upon my shoulders I had no right to refuse or even hesitate." There was also the reaUty that Washington had been accepting hospitaUty from north- em whites for 20 years, usually on terms of perfect equality. At all times courtly and acutely sensitive to whites' expecta- tions, he often slept and ate in white homes when he was fundraising and even more commonly dined with them in hotels and banquet halls. He had attended many pubUc events in the North at which whites treated him as an hon- ored guest. After all, he was one of the most remarkable men in America and certainly the most interesting Negro.
At dinner at the White House, Booker sat with Roosevelt, the president's wife Edith, his 17-year-old daughter, AUce Lee, and three of his sons. The scene would be portrayed later as...