William Slade was valet at the White House to Abraham Lincoln (t. 1861 – 1865).
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Career
Previously Slade had kept a boardinghouse in Washington and served as a messenger in the Treasury Department. Lincoln used to test the lines of some of his speeches out on Slade. He was an elder at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church, Washington. His daughter recorded that her father had destroyed some old documents of Lincoln's.
Slade was also an activist within his community. He urged Lincoln to give Washington D.C.'s African American men a say over the officers who were selected for their regiments. He also was active in arguing for the right to vote, and he corresponded with Frederick Douglass about the Johnson White House after Lincoln's death.
In popular culture
In the 2012 film Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg, his role was played by actor Stephen Henderson.