Women's History Month (WHM) - March 2007

Patricia Roberts Harris

Patricia Roberts Harris

Also known as: Patricia Roberts Fitzgerald Harris, Patricia Harris

Birth: May 31, 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois, United States
Death: March 23, 1985 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

In the late 1970s Patricia Roberts Harris made history when she became the first black woman ever to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. Under President Jimmy Carter, Harris was named secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1977, and in 1980 became secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW; later renamed Health and Human Services). Prior to her work as Cabinet secretary, Harris had made other breakthroughs, including that of being the first black woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador and the first to head an American law school. Harris brought experience gained in the legal profession to her government positions, having worked as a professor at Howard University Law School in the 1960s and as a successful corporate attorney in Washington, DC, during the 1970s. Her political career, according to Gerald M. Boyd, writing in the New York Times, was marked by a "series of increasingly prominent positions" in government, and was a result of Harris's combination of "hard work with shrewd political sense."

In her role as Cabinet secretary, Harris became known as a competent and firm administrator of the numerous departments that comprised both HUD and HEW. She was a vocal critic of racially discriminatory practices in housing and employment and a proponent of government intervention to assist the poor. Initially, however, Harris was criticized on the grounds that her experience as a corporate lawyer distanced her from the concerns of HUD. Furthermore, she was often described, Boyd noted, as being "out of touch with the mainstream of black America, for which she frequently was called on to speak." In response to such challenges during her 1976 confirmation hearings, Harris testified to her empathy for the disadvantaged groups she sought to champion. As J. Clay Smith, Jr., recounted in Notable Black American Women, Harris told Senator William Proxmire: "You do not understand who I am.... I am a black woman, the daughter of a Pullman car waiter. I am a black woman who even eight years ago could not buy a house in parts of the District of Columbia. I didn't start out as a member of a prestigious law firm, but as a woman who needed a scholarship to go to school. If you think that I have forgotten that, you are wrong."

Harris was born in 1924 in Mattoon, Illinois, and was raised by her mother, Hildren C. Roberts. From a young age she displayed a drive to achieve academic excellence while also devoting considerable energy to civil rights activities and social work. After receiving five scholarship offers to attend college, Harris chose Howard University in Washington, DC, from which she graduated in 1945 with highest honors. While at Howard, Harris also served as vice-chairman of a student branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and was involved in early nonviolent demonstrations against racial discrimination, including a sit-in protest at a "whites-only" Washington restaurant. She returned to Illinois in 1945 to study industrial relations at the University of Chicago, and at the same time became active in the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Returning to Washington in 1949 to continue graduate studies at American University, Harris furthered her involvement with social organizations, working as an assistant director for the American Council of Human Rights.

From 1953 to 1959 Harris served as executive director of the national black sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. A self-described "generalist," she pursued law as a career, concluding that it was the discipline best suited to fulfill her range of academic and social interests. With the encouragement of her husband, attorney William Beasley Harris, Harris enrolled in George Washington University Law School; she graduated at the top of her class in 1960. After working for a year with the U.S. Department of Justice, Harris became a part-time law lecturer at Howard University, being named associate professor in 1965. Harris's work as a social activist reached new levels at this time when she was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to co-chair the National Women's Committee for Civil Rights, an umbrella organization encompassing some 100 women's groups throughout the United States. In 1965 Harris was chosen by President Lyndon Johnson to become U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, the first black woman ever to be named an American envoy. "I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier," she was quoted as saying in the New York Post, "but also a little sad about being the 'first Negro woman' because it implies we were not considered before."

Following her diplomat duties Harris returned to Howard and in 1969 served as dean of its law school--another first for a black woman. She followed this feat with several years as a corporate attorney, during which she also served on the boards of several U.S. corporations. According to Smith in Notable Black American Women, Harris firmly believed that "social change could be influenced by corporate responsibility." Her 1977 appointment by President Carter to become secretary of HUD gave Harris an opportunity to fight racial discrimination in housing practices and advocate government financial support for inner cities. Harris held, as stated in a speech quoted by Smith, that "the Federal Government has adopted national policy which simultaneously addresses the weakening of older central cities' economies, the causes and negative effects of suburbanization, and the plight of central city minority groups. In many cases, it has inadvertently contributed to the problems." As a Cabinet secretary Harris was considered a tough negotiator for her departments and policies. Carter's domestic policy advisor, Stuart E. Eizenstat, was quoted by New York Times contributor Boyd as saying that Harris usually won battles concerning funding for her departments. Carter himself praised Harris, describing her as "a fine Cabinet officer, sensitive to the needs of others and an able administrator."

Harris served on Carter's Cabinet until he was defeated in the 1980 presidential election. In 1982 she made an unsuccessful run for the mayorship of Washington, DC, losing to incumbent Marion S. Barry in the Democratic primary. Political observers indicated that Harris failed to gain the support of lower-income blacks during the race and was often portrayed as a candidate for middle-class blacks and whites. "I looked at the nation's capital and saw that it was not living up to its potential," Boyd quoted her as saying on her decision to run for mayor. "Seventy percent of us here are black. This is seen as a black town. But it's not working well." Undefeated by her loss, Harris returned to law in 1983, becoming a professor at George Washington University, a position she held until her death from cancer in 1985.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Born May 31, 1924, in Mattoon, IL; died of cancer, March 23, 1985, in Washington, DC; daughter of Bert (a dining-car waiter) and Hildren C. Roberts; married William Beasley Harris (a lawyer; died November, 1984). Education: Howard University, A.B. (summa cum laude), 1945; graduate studies at the University of Chicago, c. 1946-49, and American University, beginning, 1949; George Washington University Law School, graduate, 1960. Politics: Democrat. Memberships: Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Kappa.

CAREER

U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, member of appeals and research staff, criminal division, c. 1960; Howard University, Washington, DC, 1961-65 and 1967-69, began as law school lecturer and associate dean of students, became dean of law school, 1969; U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, 1965-67; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Kampelman (law firm), Washington, DC, c. 1970-77; U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1977-80; U.S. secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1980; ran for mayor of Washington, DC, 1982; George Washington University, Washington, DC, law professor, 1983-85. Worked during the 1940s and 1950s for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Chicago; Delta Sigma Theta, executive secretary, beginning 1953; alternate delegate, United Nations General Assembly, 1966-67. Member of the board of directors of Chase Manhattan Bank, Scott Paper Company, and IBM. Trustee, Twentieth Century Fund.

SOURCE CITATION

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 2. Gale Research, 1992.