Patricia Roberts Harris was a woman of firsts. She was born on May 31, 1924, in Mattoon, Illinois. Harris spent her youth in Illinois and moved away to attend college, having received scholarships from five schools before she ultimately decided to attend Howard University in Washington, DC. This set Patricia Roberts Harris on her path of being a trailblazer for the Black community and especially Black women.

Patricia Roberts Harris meeting First lady Mamie Eisenhower alongside her Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters

While Harris was in college, she served as the Vice-Chairman of Howard’s college chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and participated in one of the first “sit-ins” at a Washington, DC restaurant in 1943. During her time at Howard University, she was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta — a historically Black sorority which had been founded at Patricia’s alma mater in 1913. Later in her career, she went on to become the first National Executive Director of the sorority itself.

But long before that, Patricia Robert Harris became a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University in 1945 and moved back to Illinois to attend the University of Chicago for graduate school. However, motivated by the civil rights action that was taking place in Washington, she transferred to American University where she would ultimately receive her Master’s Degree. She was not done with her education quite yet however. At the urging of her husband, William Beasley Harris, she attended the George Washington University Law School and graduated at the top of her class in 1960.

With all of her education to back her, Patricia Roberts Harris then took her first role in the US Government as an attorney for the appeals and research section of the criminal division of the Department of Justice. After this, she served as a professor at Howard University and in 1963, President John F. Kennedy appointed her co-chairman of the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.

In 1965, following Lyndon B. Johnson’s victory in the 1964 Presidential Election, Patricia Roberts Harris was appointed as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg — becoming the first Black woman to hold the position of ambassador. Though she was pleased to take on such a role, the moment was bittersweet for her as she expressed the following sentiment:

“I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier, but also a little sad about being the ‘first Negro woman’ because it implies we were not considered before.”

She served as ambassador in Johnson’s administration until the end of his presidency. Additionally, she was an alternate delegate to the United Nations General Assembly for the 21st and 22nd sessions from the years 1966 to 1968.

The Nixon and Ford Administrations gave Patricia Roberts Harris some time away from the national political spotlight, but she was not done breaking down barriers for Black women. After her career as a diplomat ended, Harris served as the Dean of Howard University School of Law, making her the first Black woman to have filled this role. After her brief time as a Dean, Harris went back to being a corporate attorney. She was also not done setting new “firsts” as she became the first Black woman to sit on the board of director’s at a Fortune 500 company when she joined IBM in 1971. Harris also rose to prominence in the Democratic party and in 1973, she became a member-at-large of the Democratic National Committee.

Patricia Roberts Harris, President Jimmy Carter, and New York City Mayor Abraham Beame on a tour of the South Bronx, 1977.

Harris proved her excellence within the ranks of the Democratic Party. Following Jimmy Carter’s win in the 1976 presidential election, Patricia Roberts Harris reentered the national spotlight when she was nominated by President Carter to serve as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Thus, she became the first African American woman to sit on a Presidential Cabinet as well as becoming the first Black woman to be in the line of presidential succession at number 13.

This role gave Harris incredible power to address dilapidated neighborhoods. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Senator William Proxmire challenged the confirmation and questioned Harris’s ability to accurately represent the poor and less fortunate in America, given her now elevated position in society. To this criticism, Harris responded:

“Senator, I am one of them. You do not seem to understand who I am. I am a Black woman, the daughter of a dining car waiter. …a Black woman who could not buy a house eight years ago in parts of the District of Columbia. I didn’t start out as a member of a prestigious law firm, but as a woman who needed a scholarship to go to school. If you think I have forgotten that, you are wrong… if my life has any meaning at all, it is that those who start out as outcasts may end up being part of the system.”

Ever humble about her beginnings, Harris took on the role as the HUD Secretary and was incredibly effective as she worked to bring aid to deteriorating neighborhoods and worked to bring business back to impoverished areas of American cities. She went about reconstructing and reviving these communities instead of tearing them down, as many had done in the past. President Carter appointed her to serve as the secretary of the newly organized Health and Human Services department in 1980 until he was defeated for re-election that same year.

Patricia Roberts Harris commemorative stamp, 2000.

After her time on Carter’s Cabinet, Patricia Roberts Harris launched a bid to become the Mayor of Washington, DC during the 1982 election, yet was unsuccessful as the incumbent mayor, Marion Barry, defeated her in the primaries. Yet her career was far from over. In 1983 Harris joined the George Washington University National Law Center where she worked until her death on March 23, 1985 from breast cancer.

Patricia Roberts Harris was an ever relentless woman who broke down barriers for Black women across the country. Her life was defined by a list of firsts as well as her incredible resilience and humility. In 2000, the United States Postal Service honored her legacy with a stamp bearing her likeness that was unveiled at Howard University. Additionally, she inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003.

Harris is interred in Rock Creek Cemetery in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, DC. To hear more about other famous Americans interred at Rock Creek Cemetery, tune into the upcoming episodes of Historic America’s YouTube Series, Dead, White, and Blue and for a teaser of coming attractions, watch the video below…

A Woman of Many Firsts: Patricia Roberts Harris