Who was the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. cabinet secretary?

Patricia Roberts Harris was the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. cabinet secretary.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Harris secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977, making her the first Black woman to hold a cabinet-level position. She had already broken barriers as the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador, representing the United States in Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967.

Harris had deep connections to the Civil Rights Movement. She worked as an attorney for the NAACP and later became dean of Howard University Law School. Her career combined civil-rights advocacy, legal scholarship, diplomacy, and public administration.

She served as HUD secretary until 1979 and then became secretary of Health and Human Services. Harris is sometimes confused with Shirley Chisholm, who was the first Black woman elected to Congress, or Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman appointed to the federal judiciary. Those were different milestones.