Elias Polk
- Position
- Valet
- Years in President's House
- 1845 – 1847
- Legal Status
- Enslaved Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- James K. Polk
- Biography
Elias Polk, born into slavery on the Polk family’s North Carolina plantation in 1806, was gifted to newlyweds James K. Polk and Sarah Polk in 1824.1 Elias served as James K. Polk’s valet, traveling with him from Tennessee to Washington, D.C. throughout Polk’s political career. This included his time at the White House, though from 1845-1846, President Polk hired Elias out to James H. Thomas.2
Interestingly, Elias Polk became a Democratic politician in Tennessee post-emancipation, often siding with the White Southern elite over the Radical Republicans.3 In 1876, he was appointed a laborer at the U.S. Capitol, returning to Washington, D.C. and in 1886, he shook hands with President Grover Cleveland at the White House; unfortunately, he became ill on this trip and died on December 30, 1886. He is buried at Nashville City Cemetery in Tennessee.4
- Zacharie W. Kinslow, “Enslaved and Entrenched: The Complex Life of Elias Polk,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/enslaved-and-entrenched.
- Lina Mann, “The Enslaved Households of President James K. Polk,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-households-of-james-k-polk.
- Zacharie W. Kinslow, “Enslaved and Entrenched: The Complex Life of Elias Polk,” White House Historical Association, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/enslaved-and-entrenched.
- Ibid.
- Birthplace
- Pineville, North Carolina, USA
- Nashville City Cemetery