Howard marching band members and dancers are thrilled to escort Vice President Harris during the inauguration parade. "I honestly can t believe it s happening," one student said.
Home / National News / Howard University honors VP Kamala Harris with 49 bell tolls and Black national anthem
Howard University honors VP Kamala Harris with 49 bell tolls and ‘Black national anthem’
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By DEENA ZARU, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) As Kamala Harris became the 49th vice president of the United States on Wednesday morning, the bells at her alma mater Howard University in Washington, D.C. tolled 49 times to honor the historic moment.
Harris, who is of Black and South Asian descent, became the first woman vice president and the first person of color to hold this office after she was sworn in on Inauguration Day by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
After half a century as a senator and vice president, Biden assumes the presidency at a time when the country faces health, economic and societal crises.
Among a small group watching from the VIP section were fellow trailblazers, including President Obama, the first and only Black president, and his wife, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. Harris’ family, including her two adult stepchildren and her sister, Maya, stood nearby the most diverse family ever to reach the national political stage.
“Watching this with my 6-year-old daughter, who has known Kamala her whole life, is more moving than I thought it would be,” said Laphonza Butler, a former senior aide to Harris. “To see Maya in the background, to see Doug standing with pride, makes me think of the sacrifices of so many, past and present, on whose shoulders she stands.”