White House Historical Association

Pauline J. Ferguson

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"Pauline J. Ferguson," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/946.
Position
Laundress
Years in President's House
circa 1953 – 1961
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
Black or African American
Presidencies
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Biography
Pauline J. Ferguson was born on October 31, 1906, in Washington, D.C. (1) She worked as a maid and laundress in D.C. hotels and country clubs prior to joining the White House staff at some point during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. (2) During her time on staff, Ferguson was head laundress, cleaning, drying, and pressing textiles for the first family. She is documented there through the first year of the Kennedy administration, but the exact dates of her tenure are unclear; her husband, Carl Ferguson, was a doorman and houseman at the White House from 1939 to 1956. (3) Outside of work, Carl and Pauline Ferguson served as president and corresponding secretary, respectively, of the Arlington, Virginia branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (4) Pauline Ferguson died on December 21, 1990, and was buried at National Memorial Park in Idylwood, Virginia. (5)
(1) Pauline J. Ferguson 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.
(2) Carl W Ferguson in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Arlington, Virginia; Roll: m-t0627-04246; Page: 73B; Enumeration District: 7-35, Ancestry.com; Carl W Ferguson in the 1950 United States Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: All Places, Arlington, Virginia; Roll: 736; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 7-130, Ancestry.com.
(3) Lillian Rogers Parks, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House (Fleet Publishing Co., 1961), pg. 323; Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers. Textual Materials. Letitia Baldrige Files. Christmas: 1961 (2 of 2 folders). JBKOPP-SF037-009. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; “Harry S. Truman’s Beer Stein,” RR Auction, https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/33233930437165-harry-s-trumans-oak-beer-stein/.
(4) “Arlington NAACP Honors Mrs. Taylor,” Washington Afro-American (Washington, D.C.), January 25, 1958, pg. 19.
(5) Pauline J Ferguson in the Virginia, U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014, Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, VA, USA; Virginia, Deaths, 1912-2014, Ancestry.com.
Birthplace
Washington, D.C., USA
Related Worker
Carl W. Ferguson
Ushers, Stewards, and Doorkeepers, Housekeeping and Laundry, 1939 – 1956