When Jessie DePriest Came to Tea at the White House
How a simple invitation to a formal event became known as the “Tea Incident”
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“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” ~ Booker T. Washington
On the afternoon of June 12, 1929, Jessie DePriest, the wife of Congressman Oscar DePriest, a Republican representing the state of Illinois, arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a formal tea hosted by First Lady Lou Hoover. According to newspaper reports, Jessie wore a “charming afternoon ensemble of the loveliest pale blue georgette,” the otherwise simple outfit was complimented with a glitzy rhinestone buckle.
To those who knew Jessie well, she was the personification of a sophisticated woman who extended grace to everyone, but she was also a reserved individual who valued her privacy and strove never to cause a stir. Yet this occasion at the White House would be anything but ordinary. It was not the outfit that Jessie wore that piqued the attention of the press and the public alike; it was her race. This event, intended to be a simple, routine function, became a political battle cry over segregation and integration remembered by history as the “Tea Incident.”
