Inez McWhorter in rare Daily News Black photo

One hundred year ago today… readers of the News opened their papers to a rare sight of a photograph of a Black person within its pages. Inez McWhorter, White House cook, was pictured, accompanied by the news that she had made Xmas cookies for President Warren G. Harding.

The photo was a standard publicity photo from the Keystone Corporation. The Library of Congress has it dated July of 1920, suggesting it was taken at the Harding residence in Ohio while he was still senator.

The News rarely featured photos of Black people. We can assume that the sight of a Black domestic servant seemed un-threatening to white readers.

We previously, in our post for Election Day 1921, took note of the News’ photo of a Black woman, in that case a mother bringing her daughter to the polls. 

– Jonathan Goldman, Dec. 26, 1921

TAGS: media, journalism, African American, Black history, photography, women, servants, labor, race