Former Columbia, South Carolina, Mayor Stephen Benjamin was introduced as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, replacing Keisha Lance Bottoms. Meet the other Black folks in Biden's administration.

Former USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack's controversial firing of Shirley Sherrod in 2010 should preclude him from leading the agriculture agency under Joe Biden's administration, civil rights leaders and advocates say.

The Senate confirmed Linda Thomas-Greenfield to serve as President Joe Biden's ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday in a 78-20 vote.

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm retired Army General Lloyd Austin to be the next Secretary of defense, making him the first Black person to ever lead the federal agency.

Black News

Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Robert C. Weaver became the first Black member of a presidential cabinet on this day in 1966.

Leslie T. Fenwick, the former dean emeritus of the Howard University School of Education and a professor of educational policy and leadership, has emerged as one of Joe Biden's cabinet finalists to lead the U.S. Department of Education. 

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms turned down the chance to serve in President-elect Joe Biden's cabinet, one of the Atlanta mayor's advisers confirmed.

Critics say the position is not on a par with the lofty cabinet spots Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was reportedly being considered for.

The news that Doug Jones was Joe Biden's choice for U.S. attorney general drew attention to the former Alabama senator's prosecution of KKK members who bombed a historic Black church in Birmingham that killed four little Black girls in 1963.

Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo will be the deputy Treasury secretary, making the Nigerian-born Obama era official the first Black person to ever serve in that role.

Opinion

Black people find ourselves inadequately included or represented in the government we’ve worked so tirelessly to support and protect. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is no exception.

While placing a Black person in positions of power is not the cure-all to reverse 400 years of systemic racism, the time to account for the sins of the past is now.