A newly discovered letter written by Abraham Lincoln is shedding light on the racial and social dynamics inside the White House at the start of his presidency.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield has received a letter Lincoln wrote just 12 days after taking office in 1861. In it, the president asked Navy Secretary Gideon Welles to help find work for William Johnson — a Black man who had served the Lincoln family in Springfield and followed them to Washington.

Lincoln said he wanted to give Johnson a job in the White House, but other staff objected because of his race, writing that “the difference of color between him and the other servants is the cause of our separation.”

Lincoln eventually found Johnson a job at the Treasury Department later that year. Despite the discrimination he faced, Johnson continued helping Lincoln, even traveling with him to Gettysburg in 1863. Johnson died the following year of smallpox, and Lincoln personally saw to it that his wages and burial costs were paid. The letter was donated to the museum by private collector Peter Tuite and is now on display in the museum’s Treasures Gallery.

For more information, visit www.presidentlincoln.illinois.gov.