Although the midterm elections that marked the midpoint of the first African American presidential administration in history resulted in a resounding defeat for the Democrats, it was a massive sea change for the Republicans.
What may end up being more profound than any of the aforementioned is the fact that the state of Alabama will send its first African American woman to the United States House of Representatives. Birmingham attorney Terri Sewell, who led the four-candidate field in her first bid for public office, defeated Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot in a runoff this past July. On Nov. 2 the Democratic nominee for the 7th Congressional District defeated Republican businessman Don Chamberlain.
Sewell received more than 70 percent of the vote. She will be the first woman to represent the state in Congress since the 1970s, and the first African American woman to do so.
Sewell graduated with honors from Princeton University and a received a master’s degree with first class honors from Oxford University. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1992. Sewell, who is a Selma native, is a specialist in the area of corporate finance and capital markets and worked on Wall Street prior to relocating to Birmingham to practice law.
This is a long list of firsts for Sewell, who was the first black valedictorian of Selma High School. Her mother was the first African American woman to serve on the Selma City Council. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
