Condoleezza Rice

BORN: NOVEMBER 14, 1954, BIRMINGHAM, AL

The essence of America, what really unites us, is not nationality or ethnicity or religion. It is an idea…that you can come from humble circumstances and you can do great things.

Condoleezza Rice is an accomplished educator, musician, writer, athlete, and scholar who has achieved many remarkable firsts during her lifetime. She served as the sixty-sixth Secretary of State, in the administration of President George W. Bush. She rose through the ranks of academia as a scholar specializing in Soviet studies and foreign relations and an assistant professor at Stanford University, and she was eventually appointed as the first woman, the first African American, and the youngest provost of that institution. Her expertise in foreign relations and fluency in Russian led her to appointments as the first female National Security Advisor and the first African American female Secretary of State.

Condoleezza was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the only child of educators Angelena Rice and Rev. John Wesley Rice. They instilled in her the belief that in spite of institutionalized racism and the Jim Crow culture that surrounded her, Condoleezza could achieve excellence. The turbulence of the Birmingham of her youth, where her playmate Denise McNair and three other young girls were killed in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, greatly affected Condoleezza and her family. But she was also nurtured by a loving family and community. She began piano lessons at the age of three, she was a figure skater, and she read voraciously and achieved excellent grades. At the University of Denver, she abandoned her childhood dream of becoming a concert pianist when she discovered international studies under the mentorship of Professor Josef Korbel. Although music and competitive sports continued to be important to her, international affairs became her passion.

After receiving her PhD in political science, Condoleezza held academic and administrative positions at Stanford University. She became a highly sought after foreign policy expert. As Secretary of State, she helped to mold US policy in the Middle East, Europe, and around the world. For over thirty years, she has maintained her relationship with Stanford University, where she continues to teach.