A black woman named White House Press Secretary for the first time

A black woman has been named White House spokesperson for the first time in U.S. history. Another glass ceiling has been shattered following the birth of the country’s first black female high court justice.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday (local time) that Karine Jean-Pierre, the 45-year-old principal deputy secretary, has been promoted to be White House Press Secretary. President Biden said Karine will lead the way in communicating about the work of the administration on behalf of the American People, adding she will be a strong voice speaking for him and the administration. It is the first time that a black woman has been appointed White House Press Secretary since the establishment of the U.S. government in 1789. Earlier on February, President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as the Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first black female high court justice.

Born in 1977 in the French Caribbean island of Martinique to Haitian parents, Jean-Pierre moved to the U.S. with her parents at the age of five. Jean-Pierre, the eldest of three children, had to take care of her siblings from an early age as her parents were busy working as a taxi driver and a caregiver. After graduating from New York Institute of Technology, she received her MPA from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She worked for New York City councilor and a civic group and entered politics, serving as the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign’s regional political director.

“I am the result of the American Dream, of which I am very proud. I thank my parents for living paycheck to paycheck, for facing their fears while they worked towards a better life for their three beloved children,” Jean-Pierre wrote on her Twitter account in 2018 with a photo of her family. She is an openly gay woman, who is married to CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.


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