Women of Note

Jo Freeman Reviews Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path to the White House

Vice President Kamala Harris: Her Path to the White House

by Malaika Adero

New York: Sterling, 2021, 186 pages with 120 photos, $29.95 hardcover

If you like photos, you’ll love this book. It is packed with some of the most striking photos of KH and her life that I have seen.

While it’s mostly photos, there is some text. It has many of her own speeches, including her 2011 inaugural address as California Attorney General, her 2020 speech accepting the Democratic nomination, and several commencement addresses.

The author provides some fascinating tidbits of information. Where else can you read that Harris’ sorority sisters donated checks written for $19.08 to the Biden-Harris campaign, commemorating the founding of Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1908? The author says that the Biden Victory Fund received more than 11,000 such checks, from an AKA membership of 300,000.

There are also some holes. The author is not familiar with Berkeley in the Sixties, even though it was very important to Harris’ parents, who were Cal graduate students at that time. One striking photo shows her mother and a friend at what the caption says is a civil rights protest in Berkeley but without a specific date or place. Since I was a Cal undergraduate during those years, and very active in the civil rights movement, I recognized the scene. It was a small plaza at the southern entrance to the campus, where we put up our tables and passed out literature. The photo does not depict a civil rights protest, though the signs on the tables clearly indicate that it was late Spring of 1963 during or after the Birmingham demonstrations.

The book raises lots of questions. KH’s mother was a high caste Hindu but sent her daughters to a Christian church in nearby Oakland. Why? Both parents were active in the civil rights movement in Berkeley but KH chose electoral politics rather than radical politics. I well remember the split in California during KH’s formative years, with radicals often denouncing those who pursued elective office as sell-outs. Nor is there anything about her political mentors or her base. Electoral politics requires money, contacts and name recognition. Where did KH find these?

Given her international origins, one might expect her to study international affairs rather than go to a local law school and from there become a criminal prosecutor. “Her path to the White House” must have been very curvey.

KH’s parents separated when she was eight. She was raised by her mother. Nonetheless, one gets the impression that KH saw herself as fundamentally a Black woman. Although she visited her relatives in both India and Jamaica, this book paints those identities as more background than foreground. Having participated in electoral politics in Brooklyn, where we have people from everywhere, I know that African-Americans and West Indians don’t like each other. Yet KH chose Black as her primary identity.

This is a gorgeous book, well suited to be a graduation present for a young woman of any color. Buy it for the photos, not for the text.

Tags: african-americans, alpha kappa alpha, civil rights movement, electoral politics, inaugural address as california attorney general, west indians

Women's Congressional Policy Institute Legislative Update Including a Bill to Provide Loan Deferment for Borrowers And Survivors of Sexual Harassment, Stalking and Assault

A number of bills introduced: September 18-22, 2023: A bill to extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave; increasing access to short-term child care; a bill to provide access to an annually updated list of adoption agencies that are licensed and not-for-profit; extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave; a bill providing deferment of loans for borrowers who are survivors of sexual harassment, stalking, and assault; A bill to provide birth mothers and adoptive families with access to an annually updated list of adoption agencies that are licensed and not-for-profit in states across the United States; and a bill to recognize the Women-Owned Small Business program in the Department of Veterans Affairs procurement hierarchy of small business preferences. more »

A Proclamation on Women’s Equality Day 2023 and the 100th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment

"My Administration is committed to realizing the promise of the suffragists, who knew that equality begins at the ballot box and requires women to have a seat at the table. That is why we will keep fighting to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to ensure fair Congressional maps give all Americans an equal chance to be heard. It is also why I have delivered on my promise to build an Administration that looks like America — with courageous leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris and the record number of women who serve in our Nation’s first gender-equal Cabinet leading the way." more »

Jo Freeman Reviews Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger

In Undaunted the author tells the stories of numerous women who have made their mark on the profession of journalism. Reaching back to the early 19th Century, she begins with Margaret Fuller, who “unstuck the gate” in the 1840s. She carries that history to the current era, exploring several themes. Her own years as a journalist shine through in her writing. Undaunted is a good read. more »

Jo Freeman Reviews The Everyday Feminist: The Key to Sustainable Social Impact - Driving Movements We Need Now More Than Ever

"This is a complex book. It combines social theory, several personal stories, and a little bit of memoir into a very readable text. The title certainly catches your attention, as you ask what is an everyday feminist. The author offers an answer in the first chapter – several answers. She’s an activist. She works for her community, not just herself. She leads but doesn’t think of herself as a leader. She is an ordinary woman with a passion for transformational change. She mostly comes from marginalized communities. She is politically astute. She takes risks to do the right thing. She is transparent and accountable, caring and generous." more »