Jackie O, Michelle O, and a Backstairs Diary

On this episode of Advanced TV Herstory, we connect the dots between TV and feminism with American culture and politics by remembering the 1979 television miniseries, Backstairs at the White House.

The series is based on the New York Times bestseller by Lillian Rogers Parks, a seamstress in the White House from 1939-1961. Parks based the book on her own experiences and on those of her mother, Maggie Rogers, who, as a maid in the White House from 1909-1939, was encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt to keep a diary of her time serving the various first families.

MENTIONS AND REFERENCES
(We encourage you to visit your local bookseller or library.)

Jackie Kennedy - Interview with Sander Vanocur, NBC - March 1961 - https://youtu.be/j3ZvIzL1JbI

My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House - by Lillian Rogers Parks in collaboration with Frances Spatz Leighton

Backstairs at the White House - TV miniseries (Part 1 of 4)- https://youtu.be/BIlFp_-mdXk

Michelle Obama - Speech at 2016 Democratic National Convention - https://youtu.be/4ZNWYqDU948

White House Historical Association - https://www.whitehousehistory.org

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