Hidden Figures: Geraldine Whittington #BlackHERstoryMonth 12/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Geraldine Whittington #BlackHERstoryMonth 12/28

Geraldine "Gerri" Whittington (September 11, 1931 – January 24, 1993) was the personal executive secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was the first African-American secretary in the White House. Johnson was famous for working long hours and insisting his assistants worked long hours as well. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Johnson became president, he requested a new slate of secretaries. He saw Whittington working in a government office, and, after hearing nothing but positive things about her, requested that his assistant Jack Valenti get her home phone number. Johnson called her unannounced one evening, and requested that she come in that night for an interview. According to audiotapes of Johnson's phone calls, Whittington at first thought the call was a joke, but came to believe that it really was the president on the line. She applied for the job and was offered the position. She began working for President Johnson in January, 1964 & continued to work for him until he retired. Ms. Geraldine Whittington, affectionately known as “Gerri”, was the first African American presidential secretary in U.S. history. Having a black woman in the White House was very unusual in the early 1960s. Johnson wanted to advertise the fact that he had hired a black woman, but chose not to call a news conference. Instead, he arranged for Whittington to appear on the television game show"What's My Line?", wherein contestants attempted to guess her profession. This may have seemed less overt, but probably exposed her to more viewers than if a standard press conference had been held. Whittington appeared on episode #696 of the game show What's My Line? on January 19, 1964. She was the first contestant. After Whittington signed the blackboard as "Jerri Whittington," she told host John Daly that she was from West River, Maryland. Whittington's occupation was shown on the screen as "Secretary to President Johnson." Later, Whittington would go on to appear in several magazines, including Jet and Sepia. She was the first person to learn that Justice Thurgood Marshall had been nominated by President Johnson to the Supreme Court. Minutes before LBJ made the official announcement, he took his nominee down to her office and said, "Here's the next Supreme Court Justice!" She told friends that she thanked the President for making the choice of the first Black court justice. She was extremely dedicated to her job & it has been recorded that her fondest memory was when President Johnson stepped out of the Oval Office with Thurgood Marshall and shared the news that he was appointing Marshall as the first African American Supreme Court Justice. After suffering a stroke at age 38, Ms. Whittington died of cancer in Washington, DC, on January 24, 1993, on the same day as Justice Thurgood Marshall. Whittington understood how difficult it can be to finance a college education for African Americans, so prior to her death, she set up a trust fund in her name for relatives attending a 4-year college or university. ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Twitter: @seren_sensei Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: What's My Line? - Jan 19, 1964 (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyTsMTPExWA 'Geraldine Whittington is One of President Johnson's Secretaries' - Jet Magazine, February 20, 1964: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/14282808720 'JFK & LBJ - A Time for Greatness:' http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/api/ajax/?template=ajax-printable&id=2240 'An African American First - Ms. Geraldine Whittington:' https://chocolatevent.com/2016/02/18/blog-blogger-black-history-african-american-first-ms-geraldine-whittington/ 'LBJ's exec secretary dies; she was first to learn he named Marshall a justice:' https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14164651.html Historical Civil Rights Victories: http://portlandobserver.com/news/2015/jul/28/historical-civil-rights-victories/ 'Local history maker featured in documentary during Annapolis Film Festival:' http://baltimoretimes-online.com/news/2015/apr/03/local-history-maker-featured-documentary-during-an/ Gerri Whittington (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerri_Whittington