Win With Black Women founder Jotaka Eaddy on how the group is embracing its role in a historic election

The founder of the viral “Win ​​With Black Women” livestream, who as vice president had 90,000 participants nationwide Kamala Harris entered the Race for the White House In July, she said as a child, “She was always the kid that just wanted to fight for anyone that I felt was being mistreated.”

Jotaka Eaddy said she felt that way after hearing negative comments about Black women who were named as possible vice presidential candidates in 2020, when President Biden was in office Campaign path.

“Every single one of these women was attacked in a racist and sexist way,” Eaddy told CBS News. “Nobody questioned their policies and their plans. It was said: 'She was too ambitious'.”

Eaddy's mentor, former White House political director Minyon Moore, encouraged Eaddy to do something. And in 2020, Eaddy founded Win With Black Women, a virtual network that met every Sunday throughout the year Pandemic via Zoom with the goal of supporting and advancing the political agenda of Black women. Since July, more than $2.6 million has been raised for the Harris campaign.

As Mr. Biden When the group decided to leave the race in July and endorse Harris as his successor, the group's routine call went viral as some 90,000 Black women and allies came together to strategize — and buy into the story. that could be written.

“Remember that moment, remember where you were, remember how you felt,” Eaddy said at the time.

Eaddy said when the call ended at 1 a.m. there were about 20,000 women left and it “felt like a hug that you just didn't want to let go,” she said.

The group's work inspired others to form virtual groups while raising millions of dollars for the common cause. And it inspired a Unite for America livestream with Oprah Winfrey in September that featured Harris herself thanking Eaddy for her work.

“She started it, Jotaka started it,” Harris said.

According to CBS News Opinion pollMore than nine in 10 Black women voters support Harris in the 2024 presidential election. The support comes as Black women helped propel Mr. Biden to victory in 2020, as in Georgia 92% support him and helping a Democrat win the state for the first time in 28 years.

According to historian and professor Martha S. Jones, the initiative follows a long history of Black women organizing.

“As we look back not just over decades but over a century, we see that Black women have always been knocking on the door, shaking at the gates and insisting on a seat at the table in American politics,” Jones said.

Jones, the author of “Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All,” was part of the Zoom call in July and noted the importance of getting out the vote — too who had called her “the heart of democracy.

For Eaddy, she recognizes the new standard that Win With Black Women has set for voter outreach, which she hopes will have an impact for decades to come.

“What we are seeing is a level of energy uniting around our collective, our collective absolute need to ensure that this country is a place where we can all thrive and live and be free,” Eaddy said.