Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice, (born November 14 1954), is the second United States Secretary of State in the administration of President George W. Bush. She replaced Colin Powell on January 26, 2005 to become the first African American woman, second African American (after Powell), and second woman (after Madeleine Albright) to serve in that post.

Childhood

Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of Angelena Rice and the Reverend John Wesley Rice (Jr.). Her father was a minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and her mother was a music teacher. The name "Condoleezza" is a derivation of the Italian music-related expression, "Con dolcezza",

Related Topics:
Birmingham, Alabama - Angelena Rice - Reverend - John Wesley Rice

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meaning "with sweetness". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1367314,00.html

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In an article for the New Yorker, Nicholas Leman, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, writes, "Birmingham had one notably rich black family, the Gastons, who were in the insurance business. Occupying the next rung down was Alma Powell's family; her father and her uncle were the principals of two black high schools in town. Rice's father, John Wesley Rice, Jr., worked for Alma Powell's uncle as a high-school guidance counsellor, and was an ordained minister who preached on weekends; Rice's mother, Angelena, was a teacher." http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?021014fa_fact3

Related Topics:
New Yorker - Columbia University - Insurance

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Alma Powell is the wife of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell. In 1967, the family moved to Denver when her father accepted an administrative position at the University of Denver.

Related Topics:
Joint Chiefs of Staff - U.S. Secretary of State - Colin Powell - 1967 - Denver

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She was born the same year as the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Rice was eight when her schoolmate Denise McNair was killed in the bombing of the primarily African-American Sixteenth Street Baptist Church by white supremacists on September 15, 1963. Rice states that growing up during racial segregation taught her determination against adversity, and the need to be "twice as good" as non-minorities http://www.racematters.org/lessononlifecondoleezzarice.htm.

Related Topics:
Brown v. Board of Education - Denise McNair - Sixteenth Street Baptist Church - White supremacists - September 15 - 1963 - Racial segregation

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