Last updated on November 22nd, 2025 at 01:56 am
PATRICIA ROBERTS HARRIS
During her confirmation hearing to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Harris as accused of being too wealthy to understand the post. She responded that she was a Black woman whose father had been a Pullman Porter and that 8 years previous she couldn’t even buy a house in certain parts of town. She was confirmed and became the first Black woman to serve in the US Cabinet (under President Jimmy Carter).
Under President Lyndon Johnson, Harris was the first Black woman Ambassador for the United States. She was stationed in Luxembourg. Harris was self-made. In college she rose to the rank of first National Director of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Her first government job was for the Justice Department in 1960 where she befriended new Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy. In 1963, his brother, President John F Kennedy appointed Harris co-chair of the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.
Following her government service, Harris was Dean of Howard University’s School of Law, also Professor of George Washington National Law Center and joined a prestigious DC law firm. Harris died on March 23, 1985 at the age of 60.
