Against so inevitable-seeming a homecoming, it could be hard to recall the sheer improbability of Harris’s campaign for the presidency, which launched, unexpectedly, just three months earlier, from the Vice President’s dining room table, with a hope and many prayers. In the final analysis, the campaign broke records for fundraising and, by some accounts, voter registration. But its greatest victory may have been in tone and tenor—the confidence and sense of stability with which it launched and sought to continue, the upbeat affect it managed to conjure in a dire and quite unsettled year.
“The reason why people came out is to show that we can celebrate in joy and not fear,” Angelica Melendez, another sorority member, said. “In 2020, we had the pandemic, so a lot of us couldn’t be together during election night. Today I felt it was really important to get out of the house and be in a community.” Trinity Nevette, who graduated from Howard last year, described the gathering as, “a moment for all little Black girls.”
