White House Historical Association

Henry Carter Jr.

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"Henry Carter Jr.," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/267.
Positions
Butler
Footman
Years in President's House
circa 1845 – 1849
Legal Status
Enslaved Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidency
James K. Polk
Biography
Henry Carter Jr. was born around 1831, the son of Henry Carter Sr. and Mariah, all of whom were enslaved on James K. Polk’s Mississippi plantation in Yalobusha County.1 In 1841, Henry Jr. was sent to work as a butler in the Tennessee home of James and Sarah Polk. When Polk became president in 1845, Henry accompanied him to the White House. A list of White House domestic staff compiled in February 1845 as Polk was about to become president includes Henry and identifies him as a footman.2 In this role, Henry would have assisted the president and first family when they traveled in their carriage and would have likely served as a waiter and performed other household duties. Historian Zacharie Kinslow posits that Henry “attained a high position in the household staff, perhaps as a butler or valet to the president” throughout Polk’s time in office.3 Historian Amy Greenberg claims Henry was married to a fellow-enslaved worker at the White House named Milly.4 When Polk’s term as president ended and he returned to Tennessee, he brought Henry and Milly with him.5 Henry continued to work for the Polk family until emancipation; little is known about his life afterward.6
  1. Zacharie W. Kinslow, “Plantations and Politics,” White House Historical Association, April 22, 2020, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/plantations-politics.
  2. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., James K. Polk Papers, Series 2; General Correspondence, and Related Items, 1775-1849; 1845, Jan. 21 - 1845, Mar. 1, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss36509.033_0010_0837/?sp=802&r=-1.113,0.161,3.226,1.193,0. The list of staff to be employed at the White House also indicates that Polk paid Henry $6, presumably per month, for his work. While this was unusual for an enslaved person, it was not unheard of. Some of the early presidents who employed enslaved labor in the White House (including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson) paid their enslaved workers nominal wages, often termed “drinking money,” perhaps as an incentive or to avoid criticism from the public for utilizing enslaved labor.
  3. Zacharie W. Kinslow, “Plantations and Politics,” White House Historical Association, April 22, 2020, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/plantations-politics.
  4. Amy S. Greenberg, Lady First: the World of First Lady Sarah Polk (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019), 177.
  5. On March 5, 1849, soon after Polk’s term as president ended and he and his wife Sarah Polk were preparing to depart Washington, D.C. to return to Tennessee, he wrote in his diary: “I take with me also my servant (Henry) & Milly, a maid servant belonging to J. Knox Walker.” Source: “March 5, 1849,” The Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency (Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1910), 4:377.
  6. Zacharie W. Kinslow, “Plantations and Politics,” White House Historical Association, April 22, 2020, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/plantations-politics.
Birthplace
Mississippi, USA
Unclear from context
Related Worker
Milly
Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1845 – 1849
Related Association Content
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-households-of-james-k-polk https://www.whitehousehistory.org/plantations-politics