At Harris' election night party at Howard University, hope of being a “witness to history” turns to fear

Revelers attending the Harris-Walz campaign's election party at Howard University began the evening intending to celebrate a night of firsts.

Thousands had gathered in the Yard, a large open space on the Washington, D.C., campus, hoping to celebrate the election of the first black woman to the presidency. If that happens, there would be another milestone to toast: Kamala Harris, a Howard alumna, would be the first president to graduate from a historically black college or university. But as television networks called several key states for Donald Trump — and showed him leading in other states — partygoers' enthusiasm soon cooled.

Read more: 2024 US election results

Early on, that longed-for breakthrough had enlivened much of the action in the Yard, where students and alumni danced even before Howard's gospel choir sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the anthem that some have adopted as the black national anthem.

“I'm here to celebrate this moment – hopefully to witness history when the first woman is elected president,” said Rob Jenkins, 54, who graduated from Howard University in 1992, which coincided with Harris' last year there together. “If she's successful… the fact that she's coming from Howard University is another tremendous accomplishment.”

From the start, the scene at Howard was permeated with nervous energy, much of it focused on a large screen showing CNN's election coverage. But people grew increasingly concerned and celebrations were dampened when the network's John King said that Harris had underperformed President Biden's performance in the 2020 election in key areas.

By 11 p.m., the mood had darkened considerably—the dancing had long since stopped—and viewers watched in near silence as the CNN broadcast predicted an ever-narrowing path to victory for Harris.

South Carolina native Nicole Harrison, 42, who wore a sparkly blue and gold jacket, acknowledged the changing mood but said she remained “cautiously optimistic.” Still, she remembered witnessing Trump's presidency and the fear some people felt as they walked the streets of Washington, D.C

“That’s the scary thing about it – the safety,” said Harrison, a graduate of the University of South Carolina.

“Someone is going to be upset,” she said, adding that she hopes people channel their frustration into change, not violence. “I don’t want to live like that again.”

The event, which began around 7 p.m., was a showcase for Howard and the broader network of schools that primarily serve African-American students. Many participants wore the colors of their sorority or fraternity – a tribute to a storied branch of black culture in America.

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“It means so much more than you can imagine,” said Marissa Jennings, 43, who grew up in the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles and attended Bennett College, a historically black institution in North Carolina.

Jennings shared parts of Harris' biography – how she was born and raised in California, attended an HBCU and served as both a senator and vice president. And now, she said, Harris “has the chance to become the first woman and the first African-American president, which was something I couldn't have dreamed of.”

Read more: A Political Awakening: How Howard University Shaped Kamala Harris' Identity

Harris' time at Howard – she graduated from the school in 1986 – shaped her political identity. During her unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, Harris told voters that her toughest political race was at the university, where she won a seat on the Liberal Arts Student Council her freshman year, The Times reported. At the time, Howard was a melting pot of political activism.

“I often refer to my time at Howard to make people realize that they shouldn’t make assumptions about who Black people are,” Harris told The Times in 2019.

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The vice president was also a member of the Howard chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country's first black sorority. Attendees at Tuesday night's event included many women, wearing the organization's signature colors of salmon pink and apple green.

Before King's sobering statement, the crowd, which included mostly current Howard students and alumni, danced to music by Prince, Missy Elliott and Ciara – and cheered whenever the CNN broadcast revealed that Harris was expected to win at state. But every time CNN announced that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would be accepting an award, there were boos.

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“I wanted to be a part of history — good, bad or indifferent,” said Camille Thelemaque, 38, a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, a historically black institution. “I thought it was my job to be here and celebrate the successes of Black people, the successes as an American, the successes as a woman. We are all fighting for the same cause. And I wanted to be here to experience a historic moment.”

At the end of the night, Harris was scheduled to address the crowd in front of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall, a columned brick building flanked by American flags.

Mehta and Bierman reported from Washington and Miller from Los Angeles.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.