POLITICS NEWS – Alexis Herman, Labor Secretary during Clinton’s administration, dies at 77

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Alexis Herman, the first black leader of the U.S. Department of Labor, has died at 77. The former President Bill Clinton nominated Herman in 1997, and she held the position until 2001 after her long career in civil rights and Democratic politics. President Clinton released a statement saying, “Hillary and I are deeply saddened by the loss of Alexis Herman, our friend of nearly fifty years. Our hearts and prayers are with her family and all who loved and admired her.” 

Current Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer called Herman a “trailblazer who dedicated her life to strengthening America’s workforce and creating better lives for hardworking families.”

Herman was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1947, during the Jim Crow era when laws imposed racial segregation and discrimination across the South. In her testimony to Congress, Herman said, “The struggle for civil rights was a daily part of our lives.” Herman graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana before working in desegregation efforts in Mobile in 1977. When Herman was 29, Jimmy Carter selected her to lead the Women’s Bureau at the Department of Labor.