this is a story

about a black man in the white house. no, it's NOT about barack obama. it's about gene (eugene) allen. it's about mr allen and a those that came before him and those that will come after him. it's about a man simply doing his job. it's about a man who had NOT missed a day of work in 34 years. it's about a man who, when he started his current job, couldn't use the same rest room (in virginia) as that of a white man.

please read this story. it's about much more than a man in a kitchen.

A Butler Well Served by This Election

For 34 Years, Eugene Allen Carried White House Trays With Pride. Now There's Even More Reason to Carry Himself That Way.

By Wil Haygood

Washington Post Staff Writer
For more than three decades Eugene Allen worked in the White House, a black man unknown to the headlines. During some of those years, harsh segregation laws lay upon the land.

He trekked home every night, his wife, Helene, keeping him out of her kitchen.

At the White House, he worked closer to the dirty dishes than to the large desk in the Oval Office. Helene didn't care; she just beamed with pride.

President Truman called him Gene.

President Ford liked to talk golf with him.

He saw eight presidential administrations come and go, often working six days a week. "I never missed a day of work," Allen says.

His is a story from the back pages of history. A figure in the tiniest of print. The man in the kitchen.........