Patricia Roberts Harris
Patricia Roberts Harris (May 31, 1924 – March 23, 1985) was an American politician, diplomat, and legal scholar. She served as the 6th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 1977 to 1979 and as the 13th United States secretary of health and human services[a] from 1979 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. She previously served as the United States ambassador to Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her public career, Harris was a trailblazer for women and people of color to hold a number of positions, including the first African American woman and woman of color ever to serve in a presidential cabinet and the first woman and person of color appointed to two different presidential cabinet positions. She was the first African American HHS secretary and just the second black HUD secretary, as well as the second woman to lead either of those executive departments. Furthermore, she was the first black woman U.S. ambassador, the dean of a U.S. law school, and a member of a Fortune 500 company's board of directors. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for mayor of the District of Columbia in the 1982 mayoral election but was defeated during the primaries, ultimately finishing second to incumbent mayor Marion Barry.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
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Patricia Roberts Harris
Joseph A. Califano Jr. (Health, Education, and Welfare)
Richard Schweiker (Health and Human Services)
Shirley Hufstedler (Education)
Jimmy Carter
George J. Feldman
March 23, 1985 (aged 60)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Rock Creek Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Early life[edit]
Patricia Roberts was born on May 31, 1924, in Mattoon, Illinois,[7] the daughter of railroad dining car waiter Bert Fitzgerald Roberts and Hildren Brodie (née Johnson).[1][8][9] She had one younger brother, Malcolm, known to his family as Mickey.[8] 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.[8][1]
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Personal life and death[edit]
During her tenure at the American Council on Human Rights, Harris first met William Beasley Harris, then a member of the Howard law faculty and later a federal Maritime Commission administrative judge.[8] They began dating in 1955, and were married on September 1, 1955.[8]
Harris was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and served for six years as its first national executive director.[2][15]
In 1967, Lord Snowdon photographed Harris at the United Nations for Vogue.[8] In her spare time, Harris enjoyed cooking and baking.[8]
Harris's husband died in November 1984.[14] She died of breast cancer at age 60 on March 23, 1985.[14] She was interred at the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
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Legacy[edit]
Upon her death, Harris endowed the Patricia Roberts Harris Public Affairs Fellowship to enable Howard University students to undertake domestic and international public affairs internships.[25] Established in 1987, the program provides a stipend for a summer internship, along with mentoring, academic, and service learning opportunities; it has so far served over 200 Fellows.[25][26][27]
On January 27, 2000, the United States Postal Service's released its 23rd commemorative stamp in its Black Heritage Series, honoring Harris.[1][28] The stamp was designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, and 150 million copies were produced in recognition of Black History Month.[1][28] Additionally, in 2003, Harris was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[5]
Education[edit]
After earning scholarships to five different colleges, Roberts selected Howard University, from which she graduated, summa cum laude, in 1945.[10][4] While at Howard, she was elected Phi Beta Kappa and served as Vice Chairman of the Howard University chapter of the NAACP.[11][12] During her time at Howard University, she was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta — a historically Black sorority that had been founded at Patricia's alma mater in 1913.[13] In 1943, she participated in one of the nation's first lunch counter sit-ins.[14][8] She did graduate work in industrial relations at the University of Chicago from 1946 to 1949.[15][1] In order to be better involved in civil rights work, she transferred to American University in 1949, where she would ultimately receive her Master's Degree.[13][16][1]
After marrying in 1955, Harris was beginning to pursue a career in education, but saw limited opportunity because of segregation.[8] Her husband encouraged her to go to law school,[8] and she received her J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center in 1960, ranking number one out of a class of ninety-four students.[14][4] She passed the bar exam the same year.[2]
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