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Donna Lease Brazile (; born December 15, 1959) is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
political strategist Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...
,
campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote (w ...
and political analyst who served twice as acting
Chair of the Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
(DNC). She is currently an
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...
contributor, and was previously a Fox News contributor until her resignation in May 2021. Brazile was also previously a
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by t ...
contributor, but resigned in October 2016, after
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
revealed that she shared two debate questions with Hillary Clinton's campaign during the
2016 United States presidential election The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticke ...
. A member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa * Botswana Democratic Party * Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *De ...
, Brazile was the first
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
woman to direct a major
presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: * President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
, acting as
campaign manager {{Political campaigning A campaign manager, campaign chairman, or campaign director is a paid or volunteer individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote (w ...
for
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nom ...
in
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
. She has also worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Jesse Jackson and Walter Mondale
Geraldine Ferraro Geraldine Anne Ferraro (August 26, 1935 March 26, 2011) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee ...
in 1984, and for
Dick Gephardt Richard Andrew Gephardt (; born January 31, 1941) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as a United States Representative from Missouri from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House Majority Leader fr ...
in the 1988 Democratic primary. She served as the acting chair of the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...
in spring 2011, and again from July 2016 to February 2017.


Early life

Brazile was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Jean Marie (Brown) and Lionel Joseph Brazile, the third of nine children. Her family's surname was "Braswell" several generations prior. Brazile became interested in politics at the age of nine when a local candidate for office promised to build a neighborhood playground. She participated in a TRIO Upward Bound program while in high school. Brazile earned a bachelor's degree in industrial psychology from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1981, and was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, publi ...
. After graduating from LSU, Brazile worked for several advocacy groups in Washington, D.C., and was reportedly instrumental in the successful campaign to make
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's birthday a federal holiday. Brazile volunteered for the Jimmy Carter–Walter Mondale presidential campaign of 1976 as a teenager and for their 1980 presidential campaign while a student at LSU.


Political strategist

Brazile has worked on several presidential campaigns for Democratic candidates, including Jesse Jackson in 1984, Walter Mondale–Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and Dick Gephardt in the 1988 Democratic primary. After Gephardt lost the primary in 1988, Brazile served as deputy field director of the Michael Dukakis general election campaign. On October 20, 1988, she made headlines by telling a group of reporters that George H. W. Bush needed to "fess up" about unsubstantiated rumors of an extramarital affair. Said Brazile, "The American people have every right to know if
Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
will share that bed with him in the White House." The Dukakis campaign immediately disavowed her remarks and Dukakis fired her from his campaign staff shortly after the story broke. Four years later, the same issue, the relationship of George H. W. Bush and Jennifer Fitzgerald, would be briefly rehashed during the 1992 campaign against Bill Clinton, who had his own extramarital affair rumors. In the 1990s, Brazile served as chief of staff and press secretary to Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, where she helped guide the District's budget and local legislation on Capitol Hill. She also served as an advisor for Bill Clinton's campaign for the presidency in 1992 and for re-election in 1996. In 1999, Brazile was appointed deputy campaign manager and was later promoted to campaign manager of the 2000
presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: * President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of Vice-President
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nom ...
, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a major party presidential campaign. After the
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cos ...
disaster, Brazile was appointed as a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority by
Kathleen Blanco Kathleen Marie Blanco (née Babineaux; December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, ...
from 2005 to 2009. Brazile donated her papers to the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections in the Louisiana State University Libraries Special Collections, located in Hill Memorial Library.


Democratic National Committee service

After the post-election fight over votes in the
2000 United States presidential election in Florida The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Florida, a swing state, had a major recount dispute that took center stage in the election. The outcome of ...
, Brazile was appointed chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute.


2008 presidential election

In the 2008 election, she served as a
superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15 ...
for her work for Bill Clinton and Al Gore. As a delegate for the Democratic National Convention, Brazile consistently refrained from declaring her preferred Democratic presidential candidate. In an interview with political satirist Stephen Colbert, Brazile stated, "Look, I'm a woman, so I like Hillary. I'm black; I like Obama. But I'm also grumpy, so I like John McCain." The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries in Florida and Michigan initially caused the delegates from these two states to be disqualified from being seated at the Democratic Convention due to the states moving their primaries against DNC Party rules. Brazile stated, "We need to send a message that you can't defy the rules," adding, "I have pissed off just about every state in my career." At the Rules Committee meeting to decide on the final allocations for these states she was quoted: "My momma taught me to play by the rules and respect those rules. My mother taught me, and I'm sure your mother taught you, that when you decide to change the rules, middle of the game, end of the game, that is referred to as cheating." She was strongly critical of the
Stupak–Pitts Amendment The Stupak–Pitts Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2010 (AHCAA). It was submitted by Representatives Bart Stupak ( Democrat of Michigan) and Joseph R. Pitts ( Republican of Pennsylvania). Its s ...
, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009
Affordable Health Care for America Act The Affordable Health Care for America Act (or HR 3962) was a bill that was crafted by the United States House of Representatives of the 111th United States Congress on October 29, 2009. The bill was sponsored by Representative Charles Rangel. ...
.


2012 presidential election

For several weeks in the spring of 2011, she served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee. As vice-chair of the DNC, she led the organization during the transition between outgoing chair
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgi ...
, who resigned to run for the U.S. Senate, and his successor, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was not permitted to ascend to the post until at least fifteen days after being nominated on April 5, 2011. Following Wasserman Schultz's installation as DNC chair, Brazile returned to her post as vice-chair.


2016 presidential election

After Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned her position as chair of the Democratic National Committee on July 24, 2016, at the start of the
2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the majo ...
, Brazile became interim chairperson of the DNC. 3/sup> Brazile was responsible for a plan to spend money to drive up inner-city turnout in places like Chicago and New Orleans — even though neither Illinois nor Louisiana was competitive — because of fear that Clinton would win the Electoral College vote but lose the popular vote.


Sharing debate questions with Clinton campaign

A
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
e-mail dump revealed that Brazile sent an e-mail message on March 5, 2016, to
John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as Whit ...
and
Jennifer Palmieri Jennifer M. Palmieri (; born November 15, 1966) is an American political advisor and media personality who served as White House Director of Communications from 2013 to 2015 and Director of Communications for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidenti ...
with the title: "One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash." The message continued, "her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint." At the next event in Flint, Clinton was delivered a similar question from audience member Mikki Wade, whose family was affected by the poisoned water. On October 11, 2016, a WikiLeaks e-mail dump included an e-mail Brazile sent on March 12, 2016 to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri with the subject header: "From time to time I get questions in advance." In the e-mail, Brazile discussed her concern about Clinton's ability to field a question regarding the death penalty, and in a CNN town hall debate the following day, Clinton received a similar question about the death penalty. According to tech blog Errata Security, the e-mail in question was verified using an everyday verification program and the DKIM system. Brazile at first vehemently denied receiving or furnishing the Clinton campaign with any town hall questions and dismissed the Wikileaks organization as "these sad ass whipper leakers try to slow my groove". She accused TYT Politics reporter
Jordan Chariton Jordan Daniel Chariton (born September 20, 1986) is an American investigative reporter. Chariton is the CEO of ''Status Coup'', a progressive media outlet that features investigative and on-the-ground reporting on politics, corruption, the working ...
of "badgering a woman." Questioned by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, Brazile said, "As a Christian woman, I understand persecution. I will not sit here and be persecuted because your information is totally false."
Jake Tapper Jacob Paul Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is an American journalist, author, and cartoonist. He is the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts the weekday television news show '' The Lead with Jake Tapper'', and co-hosts the Sunday morning public af ...
, a former colleague of Brazile's at CNN, provided his perspective on the leak of a question to a Presidential candidate, calling it "very, very upsetting" and added that "journalistically, it's horrifying". Brazile, however, said that her conscience was "very clear". She later commented: "If I had to do it all over again, I would know a hell of a lot more about cybersecurity." In a talk at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications on the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Universi ...
campus on October 12, 2016, Brazile condemned the leaks, which intelligence officials said came from Russia, and said they were intended to "manipulate an election, disrupt or discredit or destroy our democracy" and ultimately try to "produce an outcome more favorable to them and their interests." On October 31, 2016, '' The New York Times'' reported: "CNN has severed ties with the Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, after hacked e-mails from WikiLeaks showed that she shared questions for CNN-sponsored candidate events in advance with friends on Hillary Clinton's campaign." CNN said it had accepted her formal resignation on October 14, adding: "We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor." On November 1, 2016, an internal call about the collusion was initiated by CNN President Jeff Zucker. Zucker informed his staff that, while the instances have been fully investigated and the perpetrators dealt with, the perception that campaigns received questions in advance "hurts all of us," adding that, "I have no tolerance for her behavior or that kind of behavior," going on to describe former network commentator Brazile's interactions with the Clinton campaign as "unethical" and "disgusting." On March 17, 2017, Brazile admitted to forwarding debate questions to Clinton's campaign during the 2016 Democratic primary, while she was Vice Chair of the DNC and working as a CNN commentator. In an essay she wrote for '' Time'' magazine, she said, "Then in October, a subsequent release of e-mails revealed that among the many things I did in my role as a Democratic operative and D.N.C. Vice Chair prior to assuming the interim D.N.C. Chair position was to share potential town hall topics with the Clinton campaign." Brazile went on to explain: "My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those e-mails was a mistake I will forever regret." In her 2017
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...
''Hacks'', Brazile wrote about her "alleged leaking of the questions."


Other work


University teaching and affiliations

Despite the scandal, Brazile went on to serve on various boards, including the National Democratic Institute (NDI), whose mission is to ensure free and fair elections. She was an election monitor in Kenya for the 2022 presidential elections

Brazile served as a lecturer at the University of Maryland, College Park, a fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics, and is an Adjunct Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Georgetown University. She is member of the advisory board of the
Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingt ...
Mock Convention.


Commentator

Brazile was a weekly contributor and political commentator on CNN's '' The Situation Room'' and appeared on ''
American Morning ''American Morning'' was an American three-hour morning television news program that aired on CNN from 2001 to 2011. ''American Morning'' debuted with anchors Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper on the day after the September 11 attacks, five months ...
'' and its successor, '' New Day''. She regularly appeared on '' CNN Tonight with Don Lemon'', and was a frequent member of
Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at C ...
's guest panel of political experts on CNN's Election Night Coverage. Brazile is also founder and managing director of Brazile and Associates and a contributor to
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
's Political Corner and
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...
. Brazile had agreed mutually with both CNN and ABC to suspend her contracts with the networks in order to serve as interim chair of the DNC. On October 31, 2016, CNN announced that Brazile offered a formal resignation and that they were permanently severing their ties to Brazile as a CNN contributor, due to inappropriate leaks with the Clinton campaign while she worked for the network. On March 18, 2019, Brazile became a contributor for Fox News. She stated that she was "delighted to be joining FOX News" while acknowledging her decision may be criticized by other Democrats.


Author

Brazile was a contributing writer for ''
Ms. Magazine ''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Patricia Ca ...
'' and a columnist for '' Roll Call''. In 2004,
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
published ''Cooking with Grease – Stirring the Pots in American Politics'', Brazile's memoir of her life and work in politics. According to Elisabeth Rosenthal of '' The New York Times,'' "While the book is primarily a charming autobiography about how a poor black girl came to run a presidential campaign, its publication is giving the refreshingly impolitic Ms. Brazile the opportunity to pour forth in writing and in interviews on larger issues, like what went wrong in 2000 and what the Democrats need to do to win in 2004." Brazile is also the coauthor—with Yolanda Caraway,
Leah Daughtry Leah D. Daughtry is an American political operative. She was the CEO of the 2016 and 2008 Democratic National Convention Committees, and the chief of staff to Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Early life A ...
, and
Minyon Moore Minyon Moore (born May 16, 1958) is an American political activist and civil servant. Moore is the founder of Women Building for the Future, and heads Dewey Square Group's state and local practice. She was formerly chief executive officer and b ...
—of ''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics'' (2018), a joint history and biography.


''Hacks: The Inside Story''

In July 2017,
Hachette Books Hachette Books, formerly Hyperion Books, is a general-interest book imprint of the Perseus Books Group, which is a division of Hachette Book Group and ultimately a part of Lagardère Group. Established in 1990, Hachette publishes general-inter ...
announced that it had acquired the rights to Brazile's forthcoming book, '' Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House'', published on November 7, 2017. Hachette said the book would be "equal parts campaign thriller, memoir, and roadmap for the future." Matt Latimer and
Keith Urbahn Keith Urbahn is the president and a founding partner of Javelin, a literary and creative agency located in Alexandria, Virginia that offers representation and public relations services. Education Urbahn studied religion and Arabic as an undergra ...
, partners at the literary and creative agency Javelin, represented Brazile in negotiations with Hachette. The work is "a savage memoir of her experiences with Clinton's campaign, which she describes as mismanaged and lacking in passion."Philip Rucker
Brazile says she found 'no evidence' that Democratic primaries were rigged for Clinton
''Washington Post'' (November 5, 2017).
In an excerpt of the book published in ''Politico'' magazine, Brazile wrote that she had found an "unethical agreement" between the Clinton campaign and the DNC which had allowed Clinton to exert control of the party long before she became its nominee. Later, in an interview on ABC's ''This Week'' on November 5, 2017, Brazile said that she had found no evidence of the Democratic primaries having been rigged in favor of Clinton. Brazile writes that after Clinton fainted at a 9/11 memorial service on September 11, 2016, she gave serious consideration to replacing Clinton as the Democratic nominee, selecting Vice President Joe Biden in her place. Under the DNC charter, the party chair can declare a presidential nominee "disabled," triggering a complex replacement process that involves a meeting of the full DNC. In the interview on ABC, she explained that she "had a lot of other combinations. This is something you play out in your mind." On November 4, 2017, more than 100 former Clinton campaign staffers published an open letter saying they "do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book." They said they were shocked to learn that Brazile had considered replacing Clinton on the ticket and dismayed that Brazile had seemingly bought into "false Russian-fueled propaganda" about Clinton's health. The credibility of Brazile's allegations also came under scrutiny by '' The Washington Post.'' In September 2015, the newspaper had already reported about the fundraising agreement between Hillary and the DNC which Brazile disclosed and noted that Sanders supporters knew about it. It was also reported that Brazile knew about the agreement before she publicly disclosed its details.


Acting

Brazile is a member of Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and has guest-starred as herself in three episodes of the
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
drama '' The Good Wife'' and one episode of the Netflix drama '' House of Cards''. She also cameoed as a fictionalized version of herself in ''
Army of the Dead ''Army of the Dead'' is a 2021 American zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, based on a story he also created. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bautist ...
'' along with
Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...
.


Personal life

In 1999, '' The New York Times Magazine'' described Brazile as a gay rights activist who served on the board of the
Millennium March on Washington The Millennium March on Washington was an event to raise awareness and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and issues of LGBT rights in the US, it was held April 28 through April 30, 2000 in Washington, DC. The Mill ...
. The magazine said she is "highly protective of her privacy" and called her "openly ambiguous" about her sexual orientation. Brazile is a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and said she wanted to be a priest as a child but did not pursue this after her mother told her girls could not be priests.


References


External links


Brazile & Associates
official site * * * * * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brazile, Donna 1959 births ABC News personalities African-American Catholics African-American women in politics American campaign managers Catholics from Louisiana CNN people Democratic National Committee chairs Georgetown University faculty Grace King High School alumni Harvard Fellows LGBT rights activists from the United States Living people Louisiana Democrats Louisiana State University alumni People from New Orleans University of Maryland, College Park faculty Writers from New Orleans 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women