Kamala Harris at Howard University for D-Day

Kamala Harris returns to her home in Howard, in the heart of the American capital. It’s a landmark, a refuge for her. It was here that she graduated in 1986 in political science and economics. It was here that she won her first election : delegate to the student council. It's here that she impresses at the debate club. It is from here that she leaves to demonstrate for the end of apartheid in South Africa. Since then, Howard has become a home base where she returns for some of the great moments of her career.

This summer for example, before the debate against Donald Trump, it was partly at Howard that she rehearsed with her team. Four years ago, when she campaigned with Joe Biden, it was in Howard that she set up her office. When I visited the university, the guide vividly remembered her working in the library. It's no wonder she chose Howard, “his house” as she calls it, for the most important moment of her career.

A very symbolic choice

Howard is more than a university, it is a source of pride for African-Americans. It was created in 1867 for black students who could not go to college. And today, it is part of what we call HBCUs, Historically Black Universities. There are around a hundred remaining in the United States and Howard is the most prestigious. Its nickname: “Mecca”. Among her many illustrious former students: Toni Morrison, first African-American Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Thurgood Marshall, first African-American Supreme Court justice, Kamala Harris, first African-American vice-president of the United States… and why not more ?

Listen to her in 2017, when she is a senator, she gives a speech to students at Howard and we can clearly hear her determination to overcome all the obstacles in front of her: “You can do whatever you want, there is no limit to what you can do! Because the reality is: when there is a problem, it will take someone to make a decision. Why wouldn't you? Don't listen to them when they tell you it's not possible.”

Kamala Harris who this evening will perhaps be the first African-American woman elected president of the United States, enough to place Howard University a little further in history.