The Power of Black Student Societies Is Kamala Harris’ Secret Weapon in the Fight for the White House

There’s been lots of speak about the role of black women in the 2024 election, but that’s nothing recent. In February 1913, before women’s right to vote was added to the U.S. Constitution, Nelly M. Quander, a black woman, Howard University graduate after which president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., openly engaged in the suffrage movement. We find out about this little corner of history from a letter that’s on display at the National ArchivesMrs. Quander’s letter was part plea, part protest. She pleaded with Alice Paul, the suffrage parade chairwoman, to permit Howard University students to participate in the suffrage procession without being relegated to a degrading position in the procession because of their race. It was her second letter on the subject; the first had been ignored. 1913 was also the 12 months that Delta Sigma Theta sorority was founded. Delta Sigma Theta members joined the suffrage procession.

In 1955–1956, the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycotts took place, contributing to the desegregation of buses in Montgomery. organized by black women on site in Montgomery years before the 13-month protest. Alpha Kappa Alpha was later one of 89 organizations to form the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, lobbying for the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The keynote speaker at that march was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first fraternity for black college students.

Elections

We return to 1983, when Howard University students went on a walk to the Washington Monument to recreate The March on Washington 20 Years Later. These student marchers were born around the same time as the original march. They later protested apartheid and advocated for continued access to the American dream. This was the era in which Vice President Kamala Harris attended Howard University, joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, and went on to law school.

Organizing and collective motion are survival skills developed throughout the Black experience in the United States. When Vice President Harris was nominated to run against Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Black women were amongst the first to make use of their considerable grassroots ground game to rally support for her candidacy, reenergized by a girl who embodied the promise of the March on Washington and all that got here before. Harris was immediately recognizable to us as a product of the HBCU and Divine 9 experience. We knew intuitively what she represented, and we knew she would want our help. Words like “service” and “help” are built into the missions of our organizations. The same is true of the word “excellence.” When we see excellence, we run to lift it up. In Vice President Harris, we see a girl who played by the rules of exertions and responsibility, even when the rules were unwritten and clearly not in favor of Black women. Her string of firsts belongs to all of us. They tell us that we, too, are worthy. We, too, are Americans. They tell the story of our diaspora and the story of our American origins.

While five of the Divine 9 organizations are over 100 years old and boast tons of of 1000’s of members each, the broader American culture is simply now starting to see them as greater than a curious corner of college campuses. Vice President Harris’s empowerment of her sisterhood as a source of strength and inspiration, and the success that has come from her experiences, have brought them into full mainstream visibility. The undeniable fact that these organizations have large and energetic post-graduate chapters makes them a ready-made pool of socially engaged influencers in their communities. These educated community members even have the financial resources to support candidates. The combination of sober, mission-driven organizing and the financial strength of the post-segregation generation has created an environment in which Vice President Harris and potentially President Harris cannot only exist but additionally win the highest office in America.

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