ORLANDO, Fla. – Twelve years after the first African American president was sworn in, the United States made history once again with the first female Vice President Kamala Harris.
“To know Dr. Biden is now the First Lady and then to see that Vice President Kamala Harris is in there at the same time is one of those moments where it’s like, I can do this,” Brooke Jameson, a law student at Florida’s A&M College of Law said. “Seeing that she came from our Alpha chapter and that’s where our founders started it really just made it at whole to see that our organization is a strong unit.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded at Howard University in 1908 as the first African American Greek-letter sorority, according to its website.
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For 28-year-old Jameson, it was a moment of pride as she witnessed a fellow Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister break the glass ceiling as she was sworn in by the first Latina Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
“First female, black, Caribbean, Indian, American woman, a woman. The first woman that has laid her hands on that bible and take the oath of office,” Nicky Boothe, Law Professor at Florida A&M University, said. “It’s wonderful to be able to say: ‘That’s my sorority,’ but that is our Vice President and the significance of that is just so raw, it reaches so much farther than our awesome sorority.”
Today we witnessed one of the most historic moments in the history of this country. The swearing-in of our FIRST Female Vice President of these United States of America. The glass ceiling has been broken!! WE SALUTE YOU MADAM VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS! #AKAHistoryMaker #AKAMVP pic.twitter.com/K6Wirddv9U
— Alpha Kappa Alpha (@akasorority1908) January 20, 2021
The moment will have an impact on future generations, Boothe said.
“It’s truly significant, not just for us, not just for women, not just for Black people but for our country,” Boothe said. “I’m really excited and very hopeful for the future. We might now always agree on everything that they do, that administration (or) any politician does, but we can all appreciate the experience of being part of history today.”
For Commissioner Diane Williams Cox, of Tallahassee, it was an emotional day as well.
“It means the world. We are our ancestor’s wildest dreams and when our sorority was founded in 1908 I know there was a vision of us being able to exceed and to be successful,” Williams Cox said. “We’re gonna work hard to make sure young girls, young men of all races, all creeds, all colors, know that if they want to be something they can be it if they work hard.”