Katurah S. Brooks

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"Katurah S. Brooks," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/886.

Positions: Maid; Kitchen Assitant
Years in President's House: 1931 – 1939
Legal Status: Free Person
Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Black or African American
Presidencies: Herbert Hoover; Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography: Katurah Settle Brooks was born around 1904 in Mississippi. (1) Her husband, Phillips Brooks, worked for Herbert and Lou Hoover in the White House. In 1931, when Phillips was diagnosed with tuberculosis, Katurah officially joined the staff as a maid to offset their lost wages. She had previously filled in on the kitchen staff when employees took vacation leave. As a maid, she cleaned the Hoovers’ rooms on the Second Floor, working alongside other maids including Maggie Rogers and Agnes Thompson. (2)
Katurah Brooks remained on staff until 1939, often traveling with the Roosevelts between the White House and their home in Hyde Park, New York. (3) In 1954, the Evening Star recounted one of Mrs. Brooks’ supernatural experiences while working at the Executive Mansion. She shared: “One night… I was working late in the Rose Room [now the Queens’ Bedroom]. There was no one else on the second floor. Suddenly a burst of laughter– loud and booming– like out of a cavern–came from what somebody told me was the Old Andrew Jackson bed. I ran out of that room as fast as I could, and I never wanted to go back.” (4) Katurah Brooks transferred to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing after tiring of the long hours and heavy travel required of her role at the White House. As a parting gift, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt gave her a bowl made at Mrs. Roosevelt’s Val-Kill workshop. (5) Katurah Brooks passed away on June 5, 1989, and was buried at Maryland National Memorial Park. (6)
: (1) Katurah Brooks in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00568; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 1-442, Ancestry.com.
(2) Oral History Interview with Katurah and Phillips P. Brooks, September 1, 1970, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Xmas List 1931, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
(3) Oral History Interview with Katurah and Phillips P. Brooks, September 1, 1970, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
(4) “Ghosts in the White House,” Evening Star, April 25, 1954, pg. 30, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1954-04-25/ed-1/seq-155/; fellow maid Lillian Rogers Parks also recounted Katurah’s experience in her memoir. See Lillian Rogers Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House (New York: Fleet Publishing Co., 1961), pg. 66-67.
(5) Lillian Rogers Parks, The Roosevelts: A Family in Turmoil (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1981), pg. 24-36. Katurah Brooks in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00568; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 1-442, Ancestry.com; Joseph Young, “Jobs Ruling Favors Career Non-Veterans,” Evening Star, March 6, 1960, pg. A-2, Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1960-03-06/ed-1/seq-2/.
(6) “Brooks, Katurah Settle,” Washington Post, June 9, 1989, pg. B4.
Birthplace: Mississippi, USA

Related Workers: Phillips P. Brooks
Kitchen, Dining Room, Pantry, and Storeroom, Housekeeping and Laundry, 1929 – 1959; Maggie Rogers
Housekeeping and Laundry, 1909 – 1939; Agnes Thompson
Valets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, 1929 – 1933; Lillian Rogers Parks
Housekeeping and Laundry, 1929 – 1960