Photo by: Christin McQueen
Seventeen Black women in Harris County, Texas started the new year off by being sworn in judges.
During last November’s election, 19 Black women who ran for judicial positions in Harris County made history when they all won their respective races. With two out of the 19 re-elected to their positions, 17 were sworn in as newly-elected officials on Tuesday.
“Today we usher in a new era of representative government and progressive leadership in Harris County,” the Harris County Democratic Party posted on Facebook on Tuesday.
“We felt showcasing the number of African-American women on the bench would galvanize our base and also galvanize those who don’t typically vote in the midterm elections and get them excited about coming out,” Judge Angela Graves-Harrington told the Associated Press. “We also wanted to have something out there that we could be proud of, that our community could be proud of and that Harris County could be proud of.”
Formed and funded by the Harris County Democratic Party, their “Black Girl Magic” campaign went on to become the largest group of Black female judges to be elected at the same time in the county’s history.
“Most people see our photograph and think, ‘Hmm, that’s not what I was expecting,'” Judge Lori Chambers Gray, told The Washington Post. “You don’t think of African American women as making up the U.S. judiciary.”
Now we do – and so do young girls who look like you. Congratulations, ladies!