He owned hundreds of slaves on his Southern tobacco plantation and brought some of them to work in the White House - as, shockingly, did seven other Presidents.īlack people not only built the White House but have worked there ever since as butlers, cooks and maids - first through slavery and, later, through the indignities of racial segregation. History doesn't record the name or sex of the unfortunate child as both parents were slaves, the property of that supposed champion of liberty, President Thomas Jefferson. News_Image_File: Robin Williams as Dwight Eisenhower and Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines in a scene from The Butler. The baby was born in the basement of the Presidential mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and lived there for two years only before his or her death. In 1806, a couple named Fanny and Eddy had a child there. Obama's daughters Malia and Sasha aren't the first black children to be raised in the White House. Even today, staff describe it as 'the last plantation'. It's a feel-good story but it bears little resemblance to reality - far from ever being a haven of racial equality, the White House has for centuries epitomised America's long history of black subjugation. Eventually, of course, a black President is elected and it all ends happily ever after. Lee Daniels' The Butler: Diverse, risky, movingĬocooned in a rarefied Downton Abbey-esque world of silver service dinners, 'below stairs' camaraderie and polite masters who generally treat him with respect, deferential butler Cecil Gaines (played by Forest Whitaker) rarely steps out into the vicious struggle for emancipation going on in the rest of the country, where fellow blacks are raped, beaten and blown up. The parade of presidents - played by the likes of Robin Williams, Alan Rickman and John Cusack - is really just a backdrop for the story of the emancipation struggle in America. REVIEWS have been somewhat mixed but audiences love it and Barack Obama was reduced to tears when he saw it.īased loosely on a true story, The Butler, a film about a black servant who served eight US presidents in the White House through America's tumultuous civil rights era, has both the stirring plot and star-studded cast it needs for Oscars glory.
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