Patricia Roberts Harris - Washington, DC - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Born in Illinois and educated in the Chicago public school system, where she exceled academically, Patricia Roberts accepted a scholarship to Howard University in Washington DC. She graduated in 1945 and pursued post graduate studies at the University of Chicago and the American University in DC. Throughout her college years, she was heavily involved with the civil rights movement.

In 1955, Patricia Roberts married William Harris who encouraged her to attend law school. By 1960, she was working as a government lawyer for the Justice Department where she began to get politically connected. In 1965, under the Lyndon Johnson administration, Harris was named U.S. Ambassador to Luxemburg, the first black woman to hold any U.S. ambassadorship in Europe.

Throughout the 1960s, Patricia Roberts Harris held various positions in government and academia. In fact, she was briefly named Dean of the Howard University Law School, the first black women to hold that position in any institute of higher learning. In 1971, Harris was named to the board of the IBM corporation: the first black woman to serve on any Fortune 500 company board.

When Jimmy Carter became President of the United States in 1977, he nominated Patricia Roberts Harris to the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, both cabinet-level positions. And yes, she was the first black woman to serve in a cabinet-level position in the U.S.

Patricia Roberts Harris died in 1985 and was interred in Rock Creek cemetery in Washington DC. In the year 2000, she was honored on a U.S. commemorative postage stamp.
(Source: wikipedia.com)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 05/31/1924 Date of death: 03/23/1985 Area of notoriety: Politics Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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