We must take a moment to mourn the transition of the Honorable Alexis Margaret Herman (July 16, 1947 – April 25, 2025), the first African American woman who served our nation as secretary of labor. Nominated by President Bill Clinton, her confirmation was not easy.
During her hearings, members of our sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Inc., crowded the Senate chambers in our unmistakable red and white. We made a point: Black women are here, and we have her back. Ultimately, the Senate succumbed to our presence, with 85 of them voting in her favor.
Alexis was a Southern belle and a velvet hammer. She was full of grace, with graceful ways, but anyone who encountered her should know that grace was not to be confused with weakness. She was graceful and she had grit.
Who, without grit, could help end the 1997 strike between UPS and its unionized workers?
Package delivery was hobbled for 15 days, only settled when Secretary Herman moved into the same hotel that Teamsters leaders and UPS management stayed in. She shuttled between conference rooms, not trying to be graceful, but simply direct. She carried herself that way, and a commerce-crippling strike was settled.
She was, indeed, the perfect daughter of her mentor, Dorothy Irene Height, the longest-serving president of the National Council of Negro Women.
Alexis took her Height legacy seriously. After leaving government service, she created consulting firms that dealt with diversity and minority hiring issues. She served on Fortune 500 boards, including Coca-Cola and Exelon. She mentored hundreds of young people and helped place them in impactful positions. And she was the glue that brought people together.
If you attended a gathering in her sprawling home in Northern Virginia, you’d not only connect with friends and colleagues, but you’d also eat well, celebrate milestones like new books, impending births or more.
You’d also observe Alexis taking a person or two aside for a private conversation. She was glue. She brought people together. She was committed to the collective.
I never heard Secretary Herman raise her voice, but I often saw her firm. She was graceful, but she didn’t play. She was kind but she didn’t roll over. She attracted a coterie of loyal friends and colleagues because she was, indeed, loyal and graceful.
I am among the many who mourn the loss of the Honorable Alexis Margaret Herman, among the many grateful for her legacy. She was a friend.
As labor is being attacked in the graceless shadow of this feckless administration, her voice is missing yet her legacy looms large. She was committed to women’s empowerment, especially Black women’s empowerment.
And she was committed to diversity, having worked to convince corporate America that Black women were more than cooks and housekeepers. She passed the baton to Black women leaders, who will lift her up as they do the work of advancing women in the workplace.
Julianne Malveaux, a former college president, is an economist, author and commentator based in Washington, D.C.