Fortune - Madam Vice President

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November 9, 2020

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! There’s a new highest-ranking female CEO in the Fortune 500, Pfizer makes progress on a COVID-19 vaccine, and the United States elects its first female Vice President. Have a historic Monday.

– History in the making. What a weekend, right?

I’m writing to you from New York City, where voters took to the streets on Saturday to celebrate Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election—and, of course, history being made. Kamala Harris, the California senator, is now Vice President-elect of the United States, the first woman, first Black woman, and first Indian-American woman to ever serve in the nation’s second-highest office.

Regardless of your politics, it’s a historic moment for the United States, and one that has been a long time coming—whether you’re counting the country’s 244-year history or the interminable week of waiting for election results.

Harris’s ascension to the White House is especially meaningful to women of color—and, specifically, to Black women, the voters who, yet again, proved so crucial in getting her there; 91% of Black women voters chose the Biden-Harris ticket.

I spent much of Sunday talking to Black female voters (some of whom you may have seen in the Broadsheet before) about what the past few days have been like for them. Jotaka Eaddy, the founder and CEO of Full Circle Strategies, told me that the moment she saw Harris take the stage in her white suit for her acceptance speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday night was one of “pure joy.” Others, like Washington, D.C. resident Ashley Hicks (who is an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister alongside the incoming VP), are concerned that the outpouring of praise for Black women who “put democracy on our backs” will fade the next time they’re seeking justice.

But these two stories—the importance of Black women to the Democratic Party and the historic nature of Harris’s win—intersect. “This showed the collective power Black women have to help each other rise,” Minda Harts, the author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table, told me yesterday. “When we collaborate, we can change history.”

Watching Harris take the stage as the nation’s Vice President-elect on Saturday, Eaddy says she reflected on the history that brought us to this moment:

“I thought about the rich legacy of Black women that made this moment possible that are no longer with us. I thought about the Black women of Delta Sigma Theta who marched for suffrage in 1913. I thought about Fannie Lou Hamer. I thought about Shirley Chisholm, and how she was mistreated. I thought about all the Black women that have been organizing together—you just are grateful to be able to witness such a moment in your lifetime. … You have those moments, and then you know there’s work to do.”

You can read my full story here. And for more on the women who paved the way for Harris’s historic victory, from the suffragists who ran for office before they could vote to Chisholm and her bold 1972 presidential run to Hillary Clinton, read this piece.

One thing’s for certain: we at the Broadsheet are looking forward to following what our first Madam Vice President does next.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

A note from Fortune

In today's world, there's no such thing as "business as usual."

As COVID-19 hit the U.S., dairy farmers dumped millions of gallons of milk due to kinks in the supply chain. This week on Fortune’s Reinvent podcast, we dive into how Land O’Lakes was able to avoid this by scaling back & focusing on what its customers wanted most. Listen now.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

 CONTENT FROM GOLDMAN SACHS 

Investing in diversity

Companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity are 33% more likely to have industry-leading profitability. This statistic is part of the catalyst behind Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs’ $500 million investment strategy grounded in diversity. Learn more

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

ON MY RADAR

Nithya Raman unseats L.A. city councilman David Ryu Los Angeles Times

Why I love women who wallop New York Times

Johnny Depp forced to exit Fantastic Beasts franchise Variety

 

PARTING WORDS

"I can't explain how fundamentally life-changing this is for every little Black and brown girl in this country."

-Valyncia Saunders, an attorney and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, about Kamala Harris

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