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January 27, 2021
Biden-Harris Era Begins
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late civil rights icon whom Har-
ris often cites as inspiration, and
Regina Shelton, who helped raise
Harris during her childhood in
the San Francisco Bay Area. The
drumline from Harris’ alma ma-
ter, Howard University, joined the
presidential escort.
To mark the occasion, the Alpha
Kappa Alpha sorority, the nation’s
oldest sorority for Black women,
which Harris joined at Howard
University, declared Inauguration
Day as Kamala D. Harris Day.
Biden, in his inaugural address,
reflected on the 1913 march for
women’s suffrage the day before
President Woodrow Wilson’s in-
auguration, during which some
marchers were heckled and at-
tacked.
“Today, we mark the swearing
in of the first woman in Amer-
ican history elected to national
office, Vice President Kamala
Harris. Don’t tell me things can’t
change,” Biden said.
Harris has often reflected on
her rise through politics by recall-
ing the lessons of her mother, who
taught her to take on a larger cause
and push through adversity.
“I was raised to not hear ‘no.’
Let me be clear about it. So it
wasn’t like, “Oh, the possibilities
are immense. Whatever you want
to do, you can do,’” she recalled
during a “CBS Sunday Morning”
interview that aired Sunday. “No,
I was raised to understand many
people will tell you, ‘It is impos-
sible,’ but don’t listen.’”
Harris’ swearing-in held more
symbolic weight than that of any
vice president in modern times.
She expanded the definition of
who gets to hold power in Ameri-
can politics, said Martha S. Jones,
a professor of history at Johns
Hopkins University and the author
of “Vanguard: How Black Women
Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and
Insisted on Equality for All.”
People who want to understand
Harris and connect with her will
have to learn what it means to
graduate from a historically Black
college and university rather than
an Ivy League school. They will
have to understand Harris’ tradi-
tions, like the Hindu celebration
of Diwali, Jones said.
“Folks are going to have to
adapt to her rather than her adapt-
ing to them,” Jones said.
Young Poet Inspires the World
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It was an extraordinary task for
Gorman, who soon after finishing
her poem helped inspire — along
with Vice President Kamala Harris
— the Twitter hashtag ”#Black-
GirlMagic and was being praised
by former President Barack
Obama and former first lady Mi-
chelle Obama among others.
Gorman is the youngest by far
of the poets who have read at pres-
idential inaugurations since Ken-
nedy invited Robert Frost in 1961,
with other predecessors including
Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Al-
exander.
Mindful of the past, Gorman
wore earrings and a caged bird
ring — a tribute to Angelou’s
classic memoir “I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings” — given to her
by Oprah Winfrey, a close friend
of the late writer.
“I have never been prouder to
see another young woman rise!
Brava Brava, @TheAmanda-
Gorman! Maya Angelou is cheer-
ing—and so am I,” Winfrey tweet-
ed. Gorman was also praised by
“Hamilton” playwright Lin-Man-
uel Miranda, who tweeted “YES
poem,” Gorman told the AP. She
had said that she would not men-
tion Jan. 6 specifically, but her ref-
erence was unmistakable:
“We’ve seen a force that
would shatter our nation rather
than share it,
Would destroy our country if
it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly
succeeded.
But while democracy can be
periodically delayed,
It can never be permanently
defeated.”
Invited to the inaugural late
last month by first lady Jill
We’ve seen a force that would shatter
our nation rather than share it,
Would destroy our country if it meant
delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be
periodically delayed,
It can never be permanently defeated.
--American poet Amanda Gorman
@TheAmandaGorman!!!”
Among the “Hamilton” inspi-
rations in her poem: “History has
its eyes on us,” a variation of the
“Hamilton” song “History Has Its
Eyes On You.”
Gorman, a native and resident
of Los Angeles and the country’s
first National Youth Poet Laure-
ate, told The Associated Press that
she planned to combine a mes-
sage of hope for President Joseph
Biden’s inaugural without ignor-
ing “the evidence of discord and
division.” She had completed a lit-
tle more than half of “The Hill We
Climb” before Jan. 6 and the siege
of the U.S. Capitol by supporters
of then-President Donald Trump.
“That day gave me a sec-
ond wave of energy to finish the
Biden, Gorman has read at offi-
cial occasions before — includ-
ing a July 4 celebration when she
was backed by the Boston Pops
Orchestra — and has previously
met Michelle Obama and former
first lady Hillary Clinton among
others. She has also made clear
her desire to appear at a future
inaugural, in a much greater ca-
pacity, an ambition she stated
firmly in her poem.
“We, the successors of a
country and a time,
Where a skinny black girl,
Descended from slaves and
raised by a single mother,
Can dream of becoming
president,
Only to find herself reciting
for one.”