Harris, Patricia, 1924-1985

<p>Patricia Roberts showed a drive for excellence from a young age. Raised by her mother in Illinois, she received five scholarship offers to college and chose Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1945, she graduated summa cum laude. In 1960, Roberts graduated at the top of her class from George Washington University Law School. President John F. Kennedy selected her to co-chair the National Women’s Committee for Human Rights.</p>

<p>In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson chose Patricia Harris to become the U.S.Ambassador to Luxembourg. She was the first African American woman named as an American envoy. She said, “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 also served as an alternate delegate to the 21st and 22nd General Assemblies of the United Nations.</p>

<p>After her diplomatic career, she served as the first African American dean of a U.S. law school, at Howard University. In the 1970s, she worked as a corporate attorney until President Jimmy Carter selected her as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. With her confirmation, she became the first African American woman to serve as a cabinet secretary. In 1980, President Carter named her the first secretary of the newly reorganized Department of Health and Human Services.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 09/14/1982 DC Mayor - D Primary Lost 35.51% (-22.51%)</li>
<li> 05/04/1980 Secretary of Health & Human Services Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 09/12/1979 Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 01/20/1977 Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 07/13/1972 US Vice President - D Convention Lost 0.03% (-59.04%)</li>
<li> 06/04/1965 US Ambassador to Luxembourg Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Patricia Roberts Harris (May 31, 1924 – March 23, 1985) 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 (which was renamed the Secretary of Health and Human Services during her tenure). Harris was the first African American woman to serve in the United States Cabinet, and the first to enter the line of succession to the Presidency. She previously served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was the first African-American woman to represent the United States as an ambassador. She was also the first Black American woman to be dean of a law school, and the first to sit on a Fortune 500 company's board of directors.</p>

<p>Patricia Roberts was born on May 31, 1924, in Mattoon, Illinois, the daughter of railroad dining car waiter Bert Fitzgerald Roberts and Hildren Brodie (née Johnson). She had one younger brother, Malcolm, known to his family as Mickey. Her parents separated when she was 6 years old, after which she was raised primarily by her mother and grandmother, attending public school in Chicago, IL.</p>

<p>After earning scholarships to five different colleges, Roberts selected Howard University, from which she graduated, summa cum laude, in 1945. While at Howard, she was elected Phi Beta Kappa and served as Vice Chairman of the Howard University chapter of the NAACP. In 1943, she participated in one of the nation's first lunch counter sit-ins. She did graduate work in industrial relations at the University of Chicago from 1946 to 1949. In order to be better involved in civil rights work, she transferred to American University in 1949.</p>