Book cover, My 21 Years in the White House, 1961, by Alonzo Fields. When Fields first started working at the White House in 1931, he discovered there were “separate dining rooms—black and white. We all worked together, but we couldn’t eat together. . . . Here in the White House, I’m working for the President. This is the home of the democracy of the world and I’m good enough to handle the President’s food—to handle the President’s food and do everything—but I cannot eat with the [white] help.”