Women & Politics presents:

It’s our anniversary show and we have our first guest back, Jennifer McClellan to talk about her new role in Congress. And with that we are celebrating a new voice in the community the first birth center for black women in Virginia.

Jennifer McClellan entered the U.S. Congress in 2023 after winning a special election to replace the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin. A lifelong Virginia native, McClellan was born in Petersburg to parents who served the community: her father worked as a professor at Virginia State University and her mother worked as a counselor at VSU. McClellan attended Matoaca High School in Chesterfield County, where she was valedictorian. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond, where she served as a Charter member of the Rho Rho Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She then obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. McClellan has served the greater Richmond area in elected office for nearly twenty years. She was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005 and served in that post until she was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 2017, where she succeeded A. Donald McEachin after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In Congress, she sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. A principled and progressive legislator, McClellan has always worked to ensure Virginians’ voices are heard in government. Throughout her eighteen sessions in the Virginia General Assembly, McClellan passed over 370 pieces of legislation, including landmark bills to protect and expand voting rights, combat climate change, preserve reproductive health care, and enhance workers’ protections and labor rights.

Racha Tahani Lawler Queen (she/her) is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), Licensed Midwife (LM) in California, and Virginia, Registered & Certified Sangoma (South African Traditional Healer Herbalist), fourth generation midwife, farmer, beekeeper and occasional textile artist. Mama to three brilliant children born postdates, at home in water. August 2022, marked 20-years of supporting over 1,600 homebirth families. This includes owning and operating Los Angeles California’s “The Community Birth Center” from 2011 to 2016, which prioritized Black families and midwifery students.Gather Grounded Midwifery LLC is committed to maintaining the traditional midwifery care of the Black midwives Racha Tahani descends from. Honoring them and their legacies with the cowrie shell. African omens of fertility, protection in pregnancy, symbolizing abundance.

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    Women & Politics    January 11th, 2024

Posted In: Music, Music Shows, News