On January 20, 2021, over 172 years since Lucretia Mott first ran for the office of Vice President on the Liberty Party ticket in 1848, Ms. Kamala D. Harris became America's first woman, first African-American, first South Asian, and the first graduate of a historically Black college or university to be elected as Vice President. Being the first is not new to Madame Vice President. In 2003, Ms. Harris became the first Black woman elected as San Francisco’s District Attorney. After having completed two terms as the District Attorney of San Francisco, Ms. Harris was elected as the first African-American and first woman to be elected Attorney General of California, overseeing the country’s second largest Justice Department after the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2017, Ms. Harris was sworn in as a United States Senator for California, the second Black woman and first South Asian-American senator in history. In an interview with Harper’s BAZAAR, Ms. Harris commented on the privilege of being first; "I hope that by being a 'first,' I inspire young people to pursue their dreams. The number of times I’ve heard the word 'no'—or that something can’t be done—in my lifetime is too many to count. I’m honored to be considered a 'first,' but I always think about the people who came before and paved the way for me to get where I am today. From Rosa Parks to Shirley Chisholm to Congressman John Lewis, I stand on the shoulders of so many great men and women before me." (Harper's BAZAAR, October 2020).

           

On January 19, 2021, as part of her continuing efforts to open up opportunities and uphold the rights of women in our nation and around the world, Madame Vice President Harris and President Joe Biden announced the formation of the White House Gender Policy Council to guide and coordinate government policy that impacts women and girls, across a wide range of issues such as economic security, health care, racial justice, gender-based violence, and foreign policy.

"While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities. And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before. And we will applaud you every step of the way." (Vice President-elect Victory Speech, November 7, 2020

If you missed the Florida Supreme Court Ceremonial Session for the 19th Amendment Centennial, you can view it here.

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