William Slade (valet)

William Slade was valet at the White House to Abraham Lincoln (t. 1861 – 1865).[1]

Career

Previously Slade had kept a boardinghouse in Washington and served as a messenger in the Treasury Department.[2] Lincoln used to test the lines of some of his speeches out on Slade.[3] He was an elder at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church, Washington.[4] His daughter recorded that her father had destroyed some old documents of Lincoln's.[5][6]

Slade was also an activist within his community. He urged Lincoln to give Washington D.C.'s African American men a say over the officers who were selected for their regiments. He also was active in arguing for the right to vote, and he corresponded with Frederick Douglass about the Johnson White House after Lincoln's death. [7]

In the 2012 film Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg, his role was played by actor Stephen Henderson.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Abraham Lincoln: A Life - Page 252 Michael Burlingame - 2008 "A few members of the White House staff were black, including the messenger-valet-steward William Slade, known as an excellent storyteller; the cook Cornelia Mitchell; and the butler Peter Brown. William Johnson, a valet-cum-barber .."
  2. ↑ Abraham and Mary Lincoln - Page 86 Kenneth J. Winkle - 2011 "In Johnson's place, he appointed William Slade, an African American who kept a boardinghouse in Washington and was serving as a messenger in the Treasury Department. Slade became Lincoln's valet and “confidential messenger” and ..."
  3. ↑ My Fellow Americans: Presidential Addresses That Shaped History - Page 73 James C. Humes - 1992 "During the process he would at times read out some lines to his valet, William Slade. "William, how does that sound?" he kept asking. Lincoln was not so much asking for advice as testing out the sound of the phrase as it rolled off his tongue."
  4. ↑ The Living Lincoln - Page 110 Thomas A. Horrocks, Harold Holzer, Frank J. Williams - 2011 "An elder in the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, Slade served as White House steward and as Lincoln's valet.46 ..."
  5. ↑ Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln And The Soldiers' Home - Page 69 Matthew Pinsker - 2005 "The daughter of William Slade, who was the presidential valet, reported that her father "had destroyed many old pieces of ..."
  6. ↑ Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America - Page 332 Allen C. Guelzo - 2006 "Nicolay dismissed Colfax's story out of hand, but there remains some possibility that there may indeed have been a “lost” version of the Proclamation, since the daughter of Lincoln's valet, William Slade, remembered that her father “destroyed ..."
  7. ↑ Natalie Sweet, "A Representative "of our people": The Agency of William Slade, Leader in the African American Community and Usher to Abraham Lincoln." The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, 34, no. 2 (Summer 2013): http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0034.204
  8. ↑ Lincoln on IMDb
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