Alexis M. Herman, the first African American to serve as U.S. Secretary of Labor and a trailblazing figure who helped resolve major labor disputes during the Clinton administration, died April 25 in Washington, D.C. She was 77.
Current Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced Herman’s death, praising her predecessor as “a trailblazer who dedicated her life to strengthening America’s workforce and creating better lives for hardworking families.”
Herman served as labor secretary from May 1997 to January 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Her tenure was marked by historically low unemployment rates and successful mediation of several significant labor disputes, including the 1997 United Parcel Service strike, which was the largest U.S. work stoppage in two decades.
Before joining Clinton’s cabinet, Herman directed the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau during the Carter administration, becoming the youngest person to hold that position at age 29. She later served as director of the White House Office of Public Liaison early in Clinton’s presidency.
Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1947, Herman grew up during segregation and experienced racial discrimination firsthand. Her father, a local political figure who became Alabama’s first Black ward leader, was assaulted by Ku Klux Klan members when she was five years old, according to historical accounts.
Herman herself was briefly suspended from her Catholic high school for questioning policies that excluded Black students from religious pageants. After graduating from Xavier University of Louisiana with a sociology degree in 1969, she returned to Mobile to help desegregate parochial schools.
“All of us at the Department of Labor are grateful to Herman for her service and leadership,” said Chavez-DeRemer.
Throughout her career, Herman moved between government service and the private sector. Following her tenure as labor secretary, she served on the boards of major corporations including Coca-Cola, Toyota, and MGM Resorts International.
In Democratic politics, Herman remained active long after leaving office, co-chairing John Kerry’s presidential transition team in 2004 and serving as deputy parliamentarian at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Herman married physician Charles Franklin Jr. in 2000. He died in 2014.
