The cause was congestive heart failure, said her son Felipe Cardoso. Mrs. McLaurin grew up in South Carolina during the Jim Crow era, received no formal education beyond the eighth grade, and came to Washington in 1939. She worked as a nanny, laundress, seamstress and house cleaner, never imagining it, she said. . , that the racial order of American society would change. When Obama, the first African-American president, met with Ms. McLaurin on Feb. 18, 2016, during the White House celebration of Black History Month, their meeting seemed to embody the arc of history. Dancing 106-year-old describes the day she enchanted the Obamas: “I can die smiling now” In a scene captured in a video that has been viewed tens of millions of times online, an aide to the president announced Ms. McLaurin as she entered the White House Blue Room. She raised her arms and cane to the sky and beamed as President Obama walked up to greet her, towering over her 11-foot frame. “It’s an honor. It’s an honor,” exclaimed Ms. McLaurin. Holding her hand as he walked her to meet the first lady, Obama jokingly urged the jubilant Ms. McLaurin to slow down. Without heeding his advice, she joined a dance, which the Obamas quickly joined. “I thought I would never live to go into the White House,” Ms. McLaurin said, “and I’m telling you, I’m so happy. A black president. A black wife. And I’m here to celebrate Black history.” Virginia Lugnia Campbell was born in Cheraw, SC, with the help of a midwife. South Carolina had no official record of her birth, according to her son, but Ms. McLaurin said she believed her birth date was listed in a family book as March 12, 1909. Government documents later issued to her listed the her year of birth as 1916 or 1917, her son said. Mrs. McLaurin grew up in a house without electricity. Light was provided by a kerosene lamp that was later donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington as an artifact representing the life of black planters in the early 20th century. She told the Washington Post that she married at 13 and moved with her husband to New Jersey, where she was killed in a bar fight. She later settled in Washington to be near a sister. Her life was defined by segregation, de facto if not de jure. “That was the White guy and that was the Black guy,” Ms. McLaurin told The Post. “There were so many things we weren’t allowed to do. We grew up that way. … I felt it would always be like this.” Ms. McLaurin lived for decades on the same block in the District’s Petworth neighborhood. For 24 years, from 1994 until the year she was believed to be 110, she volunteered 40 hours a week through the United Planning Organization’s Foster Grandmother Program. She was a constant presence at C. Melvin Sharpe Health School, which served students with severe disabilities, and later at Roots Public Charter School for preschoolers, feeding children, reading to them and encouraging them in their schoolwork. “Her style was lots of hugs, lots of kisses,” said Cheryl M. Christmas, the District’s UPO Foster Grandparent Program project manager. “Just unconditional love no matter what.” “She had a lifetime of doing good,” said Deborah Menkart, a friend who met Ms. McLaurin through her volunteer work and helped her with her needs. “She was famous for her one moment with the Obamas, but she had a lifetime of dedication to her community.” Public recognition of Ms. McLaurin’s volunteerism helped her visit with the Obamas, as did a petition she filed with the White House in 2014. “I know you’re a busy man, but I wish I could meet you,” Ms. McLaurin wrote to President Obama. “I would like to meet you. I could come to your house to make things easier.” When the moment finally came, he said, “it was the joy of my whole life. I can die smiling now.” Mrs. McLaurin became a celebrity in the District and beyond. Months after visiting the White House, she attended her first Washington Nationals game, dancing on the field as she was presented with a personalized jersey. He dragged the Harlem Globetrotters to Washington for subsequent birthday celebrations, which he shared with DC students. People stopped her on the street to ask to be photographed with her. After dancing with the Obamas, 107-year-old spins a ball with the Harlem Globetrotters A fundraising campaign on Ms McLaurin’s behalf has allowed her to move into a better apartment and access services, including dental care, that she previously could not afford. She had lost her photo ID in a bag she grabbed years earlier and, without an official record of her birth, couldn’t replace it. In 2016, with the intervention of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, it was able to obtain a new District Identity. Mrs. McLaurin was also gifted an iPad so she could watch her viral video with the Obamas alone. After her death, Barack and Michelle Obama tweeted the video of their meeting and the message: “Rest in peace, Virginia. We know you’re up there dancing.” Ms. McLaurin’s son said she was married three times, including to Marshall McLaurin and Willie Johnson Sr. She and Johnson had two children, including a surviving daughter, Idamae Streeter of District, and a son who predeceased Ms. McLaurin, Willie Johnson Jr. Ms. McLaurin took in Cardoso when he was 3 and later officially adopted him. In addition to her children, survivors include many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other descendants. When she reflected on her years, Ms. McLaurin described a sense of awe at the change she had seen take place. “A lot of things have happened in my life,” he said, “that I never thought would happen.”
