Charlotta Bass ran on the Progressive Party ticket in 1952 and homage was paid to her after Sen. Kamala Harris was picked to be Joe Biden’s VP
Sen. Kamala Harris is the first Black woman and Asian American to be a running mate on a major ticket but Charlotta Bass is actually the first Black woman to run for vice president more than a half-century ago.
Kamala Harris Makes History as the First Woman of Color to Become a U.S. Vice-Presidental Nominee
Bass, a political activist and journalist was the first African American woman to solely own a newspaper, The California Eagle. She ran for VP of the Progressive Party in 1952 alongside Vincent Hallinan in the longshot bid.
“This is a historic moment in American political life,” Bass told the crowd at the Chicago convention. “Historic for myself, for my people, for all women. For the first time in the history of this nation, a political party has chosen a Negro woman for the second-highest office in the land.”
Bass began her career as a conservative Republican but her politics changed by the 1940s. She became more progressive but ultimately abandoned the Democratic party because of its failure to address the concerns of Black and women’s rights.
