Lillian Rogers Parks
Cite this Page
"Lillian Rogers Parks," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/624.
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- 1929 – 1960
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
- Lillian Rogers Parks was born in Washington, D.C. on February 1, 1897.1 Her mother, Maggie Rogers, worked as a maid in the Taft White House and sometimes brought Lillian to work.2 In 1929, Lillian was hired at the White House upon her mother’s recommendation.3 She worked as a maid and seamstress, making and fitting clothes for first ladies, mending linens, making up rooms for guests, and sewing draperies and curtains. During the Roosevelt years, she experienced the major changes that came to the White House during World War II, from rations in the kitchen to gas mask training. During the war, the White House staff also prepared escape routes in case of emergencies. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made an exception to let Parks use the elevator reserved for him if she could not use the steps should an incident occur. Like the president, Parks had been diagnosed with polio. She lost the use of her left leg as a child and wore a heavy brace and used crutches to move for most of her life.4 Parks continued to work at the White House through the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies and retired from her role in 1960. Following her retirement, she penned several books about her experiences, including her bestselling memoir My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, which was later adapted into a television miniseries on NBC. She often spoke in public about her career including at exhibits and oral history projects at the Smithsonian Institution, prominent talk shows, and other venues.5 Lillian Rogers Parks died on November 6, 1997, at 100 years old, and was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.6
- Lillian R. Parks in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, Ancestry.com. See also MS 575 Lillian Rogers Parks Papers, 1939-1997,The Historical Society of Washington, DC, Kiplinger Research Library, Washington D.C.
- Lillian Rogers Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House (New York: Fleet Publishing Co., 1961), pg. 110.
- Lillian Rogers Parks, Oral history interview, 1985. HSW Oral History Collection, Lillian Rogers Parks Papers, 1939-1997,The Historical Society of Washington, DC, Kiplinger Research Library, Washington D.C.
- Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, 42-43.
- Barte Barnes, “Lillian Parks Dies at 100, White House Seamstress,” Washington Post, November 12, 1997, pg. B6. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History presented the exhibit “Mrs. Lillian Rogers Parks: Career at the White House” in 1979.
- “Lillian Adele Rogers Parks,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17081318/lillian-adele-parks?_gl=1*ookhks*_gcl_au*MTM1NjUzOTk5My4xNzU2Mzg4MjI5.
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Lincoln Memorial Cemetery
- Related Workers
- Maggie RogersHousekeeping and Laundry, 1909 – 1939
- Lillian CarterHousekeeping and Laundry, 1913 – circa 1939
- Harrison F. WilkersonHousekeeping and Laundry, 1926 – circa 1933
- Annie FultonValets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1925 – 1933
- Nora T. MannixHousekeeping and Laundry, 1928 – 1933
- Luther J. WilkersonHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1929 – 1933
- William M. WilkersonHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1930 – 1933
- Katurah S. BrooksKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, Housekeeping and Laundry, 1931 – 1939
- George C. FieldsValets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1933 – 1942
- Cesar CarreraHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1939 – 1944
- Mary L. FosterValets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, 1933
- William L. Sarver Sr.Housekeeping and Laundry, 1939 – 1956
- Willie CollinsKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1945
- Bluette PannellHousekeeping and Laundry, Valets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, circa 1941 – 1953
- Ella F. SampsonHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1939 – 1940
- Loretta C. DeansKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, Housekeeping and Laundry, circa 1933 – 1940
- James L. WadeUshers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, circa 1940 – 1964
- Garland L. NowlanTrades, 1939 – 1966
- William I. HarleyHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1944 – 1946
- Julia Mitchell SharpHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1943 – 1952
- George W. ThompsonHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1944 – 1961
- Wilma H. HolnessHousekeeping and Laundry
- Ray M. Hare Jr.Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, 1949 – 1976
- Roselyn V. Nicholas BookerHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1950 – 1979
- Edward H. BookerKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1952 – 1960
- Enrique AflagueHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1953 – 1961
- Thomas P. RoachKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, 1920s
- George F. BentonTrades, circa 1943 – 1961
- Francisco Lim1961, circa 1955
- Juanito MalapitHousekeeping and Laundry, circa 1953 – 1961
- Arnold W. DixonKitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, circa 1911 – 1920