Percival Bryan
Cite this Page
"Percival Bryan," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/955.
- Positions
- Chauffeur
- Butler
- Years in President's House
- circa 1940 – 1961
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Biography
- Percival Bryan was born in Galina, St. Mary Parish, Jamaica on January 1, 1906. In 1924, he traveled to the United States as a stowaway on a banana boat and settled in D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood. (1) Starting in the 1940s during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bryan worked part-time at the White House as a butler and chauffeur, specifically as driver to Samuel I. Rosenman, special counsel to the president. Bryan continued there under presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, but Bryan was best known for driving a cab in Washington, D.C., a career which blossomed out of his White House work. As The Washington Post reported “Bryan... bought his first cab 48 years ago when he realized he couldn't make ends meet as a butler in Franklin D. Roosevelt's White House.” (2) Bryan became very well-known in the city for collecting thousands of signatures from passengers in his cab, including prominent visitors like Mick Jagger, Muhammad Ali, J. Edgar Hoover, Clark Gable, and many others. He was also active in local civic groups including the Caribbean American Inter-cultural Organization, Washington Housing Association, and Erie Heights Civic Association. (3) In 1990, Percival Bryan was honored by the D.C. Taxicab Commission for “longtime courteous service.” Bryan died on January 27, 1996, and was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. (4)
- (1) “Percival Bryan collection, 1932-1993, bulk 1942-1980,” Anacostia Community Museum Archives, https://sova.si.edu/record/acma.06-001?s=0&n=10&t=K&q=*&i=0; Percival Bryan in the U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For District of Columbia, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 30, Ancestry.com; Steve Twomey, “Hail, Cabbie, Well Met– For 50 Years,” Washington Post, May 12, 1993, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/05/13/hail-cabbie-well-met-for-50-years/8dbc2da4-dba9-446e-bd75-4c330aaaef9b/.
(2) “Percival Bryan collection, 1932-1993, bulk 1942-1980,” Anacostia Community Museum Archives, https://sova.si.edu/record/acma.06-001?s=0&n=10&t=K&q=*&i=0; "Roster of White House Employees, Revised, April 1, 1944," Folder: Investigative Case Files, 1934-1945, Records of the United States Secret Service, 1933-1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York; Pat Durkin, “Old-Time Courtesy Behind the Wheel,” Washington Post, October 18, 1990, J01; George Clifford III, “Ambassador Behind the Wheel,” Washington Post, October 25, 1984, pg. DC1.
(3) Bryan’s autograph books are now in the collection of the Anacostia Community Museum Archives, alongside his personal papers. “Percival Bryan collection, 1932-1993, bulk 1942-1980,” Anacostia Community Museum Archives, https://sova.si.edu/record/acma.06-001?s=0&n=10&t=K&q=*&i=0; “Seems There Are Many People With Kind Faces,” The Washington Daily News, March 11, 1952, pg. 22; “Autograph collection chronicles cabby's ride though U.S. history,” Desert News, April 3, 1997, https://www.deseret.com/1997/4/3/19304505/autograph-collection-chronicles-cabby-s-ride-though-u-s-history/.
(4) “Percival Bryan,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/244125750/percival-bryan; Pat Durkin, “Old-Time Courtesy Behind the Wheel,” Washington Post, October 18, 1990, J01. - Birthplace
- Galina, Jamaica