This Day in History: 2017-10-04

1963 – “First African-American Woman to Hold a Cabinet Position and Serve as a U.S. Ambassador” Advocate of women’s rights, Patricia Roberts Harris was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to co-chair the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights. In 1965, one year after the civil rights act, Patricia R. Harris made history under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the first black female U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. She broke another barrier two years later as the first Dean of Law at her alma mater, Howard University; she became the first black woman to head a law school in the U.S.

History Spotlight

2017 May 26, 2009 - "Sonia Sotomayor Nominated for U.S. Supreme Court" President Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American President, nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Once her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she became the first Latinx to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is the third woman to serve on the high court. She graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude and went to Yale Law School. At Yale, she served as an editor at the Yale Law Journal.

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