Patricia Roberts Harris Was First African American Female To Serve As Ambassador For United States
Fiddr First African American Female AmDiplomatic Times Staff
“Patricia Roberts Harris
is one of those quiet warriors whose life stands as a testament to excellence, tenacity, and commitment to change.” The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture makes this assessment in descrbing the life of Ms. Harris. She was an American government official and diplomat who served under President Jimmy Carter as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Harris was the first African American woman named to a U.S. ambassadorship and the first as well to serve in a presidential cabinet. Harris grew up in Mattoon and in Chicago. She graduated from Howard University, Washington, D.C., in 1945, pursued graduate studies for two years at the University of Chicago, and from 1946 to 1949 was a program director for the Young Women’s Christian Association in Chicago. In 1949 she returned to Washington, D.C., where she did further graduate work at American University and worked as assistant director of the American Council on Human Rights (1949–53). For six years thereafter she was executive director of the national headquarters of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In 1960 she graduated from the law school at George Washington University and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar. After a year in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice, she became associate dean of students and lecturer in law at Howard University. During 1962–65 she worked with the National Capital Area Civil Liberties Union. Although she relinquished her administrative post at Howard in 1963, she remained on the Howard faculty.
U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg Harris became the first African American woman to serve as Ambassador
Patricia Roberts Harris was the first African American female to serve as U.S. Ambassador (Wikipedia)
when President Lyndon Johnson appointed her as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1965. She was the first African American woman named as an American envoy. She also served as an alternate delegate to the 21st and 22nd General Assemblies of the United Nations. After her diplomatic career, Harris returned to Howard University as a full professor, and was named Dean of the School of Law in 1969. Harris’ position at Howard was another breakthrough as she was the first woman to head an American law school. There would be more “firsts” for this dynamic lady. Shortly after taking office in 1977, President Jimmy Carter selected Harris to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Again Harris made history, this time becoming the first African American woman to become a Cabinet Secretary. During her tenure as HUD Secretary, she helped reshape the focus of the department. supporting housing rehabilitation. In January, 2000, the U.S. Postal Service honored Harris with a commemorative postage stamp bearing her likenes.
Patricia Harris in her swearing in ceremony to be U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1965. (credit U.S. Department of State)
“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.” -Patricia R. Harris on being first African American woman named as an American Ambassador
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Harris returned to George Washington U. as a full-time professor of law, and in 1982 she made an unsuccessful bid for mayor of Washington, D.C. Harris also served as Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s first Executive Director. Harris died of breast cancer at age 60 on March 23, 1985 and was interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in D.C.
