Sisters in Power

It was only 32 years ago that President Jimmy Carter appointed Patricia Roberts Harris to serve as secretary of housing and urban development, making her the first black woman in the presidential line of succession. Carter later named Eleanor Holmes Norton head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and she recalls being "marketed" as the first woman to hold the position.

A cadre of black women were introduced to national politics during the Rev. Jesse Jackson's unsuccessful bids for the presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. They included pollitical strategist Donna Brazile, the first African American to direct a major political campaign, and Minyon Moore, who was an assistant to Clinton and served as director of White House political affairs and the Office of Public Liaison. In their days in the Clinton administration, Moore would lean on Alexis Herman, the first African American woman to serve as labor secretary, and Hazel O'Leary, the first to serve as energy secretary.

"We kind of burst onto the scene," Moore said. "It became more normal to see an African American woman in a position of power."

President Bill Clinton appointed two black women to his Cabinet and several served in senior White House positions. President George W. Bush named Condoleezza Rice his national security adviser and later secretary of state, making her the highest-ranking black woman in the country's history.

Of late, black women have done better in Cabinet-level appointments and senior White House positions. Black women have been preparing themselves for this day. They are more than ready.

Here are some of the women of color who hold key positions in the Obama Administration.

Valerie B. Jarrett
Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement

Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

Susan Rice
United States Ambassador to the United Nations

Mona Sutphen
Deputy Chief of Staff to the President Barack Obama

Cheryl Mills
Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Melody Barnes
Director, Domestic Policy Council

Dr. Margaret Hamburg (lead photo above)
Administrator, Food and Drugs Administration

Regina Benjamin
Surgeon General of the United States

"We are fortunate that we are in a time where it isn't new that African American women would have important roles in Washington. It is not becoming old hat, but it is something people are more comfortable with," Cassandra Butts, Obama's former White House Counsel said. "It is both absolutely as it should be, and it is also a bit surreal."