President-elect Barack Obama will be the first black president to live in the White House — but not the first black person.
Slaves helped construct the building. Black men and women worked in the White House as servers, cooks and maids, sometimes as property of U.S. presidents.
From that shameful past arose a proud tradition: the Butler Corps. Until recently, almost all the White House butlers were black. Lynwood Westray, who spent 32 years as a part-time butler in the White House, was part of that tradition.
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