The Black Women Who Helped Create the ‘Pink Wave’ Are Now in Office

The 116^th Congress convened yesterday with a record number of African American women sworn in, ushered into office by an electorate motivated by dissatisfaction with President Trump, Republican lawmakers, and the direction of the country.

Georgia Congresswoman, Lucy McBath, took her place among the ranks of the newly elected lawmakers. McBath defeated an incumbent Republican, Karen Handel, in November in a close race. But, McBath’s fierce commitment to gun control after losing her teenage son in a shooting in 2012 resonated with voters.

Imara Canady, who has worked on local and national political campaigns and supported McBath’s candidacy even though he does not live in her district, attended yesterday’s Congressional Black Caucus swearing-in which included McBath.

He says, “The previous Congresswoman was business as usual, but Lucy was a voice of change and hope and commitment and connecting with the community. And, I think that’s what will make her successful as a Congresswoman.”

Massachusetts’ Ayanna Pressley, Michigan’s Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tllaib were also sworn in yesterday. Congresswoman Omar is the first Muslim woman elected to Congress, and she called it a “new day in America.”

New Day, Familiar Stories

Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, a history professor who specializes in race and gender studies, says, “Voters realize that Black women can be effective and reliable leaders. Indeed, their history in this country, in so many ways, provides overwhelming evidence of this.”

Democrats elected longtime California Congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker of the House for a second time. Pelosi is expected to continue the effort she and Minority Senate Leader, Chuck Schumer, started before Christmas to end the partial government shutdown which is entering its third week.

With Democrats controlling the House, an African American woman will serve as its Floor Director. Shuwanza Goff will work with House Majority Whip, Congressman Steny Hoyer, and Speaker Pelosi to manage the floor by deciding the bills that will become part of the Democrats’ agenda.

The country witnessed the political might of African-American women when they led the 2012 re-election of former President Barack Obama, thwarted the election of Alabama’s Republican candidateRoy Moore to the U.S. Senate, and organized voter registration efforts around the nation in the 2018 midterm election that resulted in the number of victorious Congressional campaigns run by women of color.

Getting the Job Done

“There are so many Black women who have been strong leaders and advocated, not just for black people, all people,” says Branch-Jones. “From Harriet Tubman during the Civil War to Mary McCleod Bethune in the early to mid-twentieth century to Shirley Chisholm in the 1970s to this recent upsurge in Black women being elected to political office, it is clear that black women have always been capable, if often overlooked and marginalized, leaders.”

The new Congress will get to work quickly, addressing the matters voters elected them to tackle.

The President of the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce, Ron Busby, also attended the ceremonial swearing-in of the Congressional Black Caucus and expressed pride in the growing number of African American leaders.

He said, “Members of the Caucus hail from every region of the country and represent more than 79 million people in 28 states. We look forward to working with them.”

And, African Americans, many of whom were buoyed by the obvious impact of voting in the midterm 2018 elections, look forward to watching them lead. In the words of Canady, who snapped pictures of  McBath and others, the 116^th Congress represented “a new era of female leadership.”