At 17, in the early 1980s, Kamala D. Harris made her first run for an elected office. Then, the woman who would become a U.S. senator seized the moment to lead, representing her freshman class on the Liberal Arts Student Council at Howard University in Washington, D.C. As soon as she got to campus, Harris, a political science and economics major, also became a social justice activist.
Nearly 40 years later, Harris returned to her alma mater in June 2019 to announce her bid to lead the nation as a presidential candidate.
But for Harris, this was more than a heartfelt social media moment. It was an acknowledgement of the institutions and organizations that first put her on a leadership path — and those she could count on to be in her political corner, including young HBCU voters and an international network made up of hundreds of thousands of her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority sisters.
In the year since her primary bid sputtered to a close, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden picked Harris to be his running mate. If their ticket wins the upcoming Nov. 3 election, the president–vice president pair would again disrupt the belief that it takes a candidate with an Ivy League degree to lead the nation. Nearly 40 years ago, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale ran and won without one.
Now, Harris, the first woman of color on a major party’s national ticket, is also the first graduate from a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). It’s a point of pride and possibility that has not only ignited excitement and mobilized fellow Howard alumni but has invigorated the throng of students and alumni who, like Harris, chose to attend one of the nation’s more than 100 HBCUs.
Finding HBCU ‘magic’
