Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will speak about her new book, her path to becoming the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House, and more during a sold-out talk at the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Aug. 8.
She will be joined in conversation by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, host of Today with Dr. Kaye on WEAA 88.9 FM. Whitehead is also a professor of communication and African and African American studies at Loyola University of Maryland, and the founding director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace, and Social Justice.
Pelosi will release her new book, “The Art of Power,” on Aug. 6. Published by Simon & Schuster, the book chronicles the lawmaker’s decades-long career in public office.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Pelosi is the daughter of former Baltimore mayor and congressman Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. Her brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, also served as mayor of Baltimore.
After college, Pelosi moved to San Francisco, where she became ingrained herself in Democratic politics and eventually led the California Democratic Party.
Pelosi first joined the U.S. House of Representatives when she won a 1987 special election to fill the congressional seat left vacant by the death of her friend Sala Burton. She was reelected every time since.
She was elected House minority whip in 2001, and House minority leader in 2002; the first woman to hold either of those positions in Congress.
Pelosi was first elected Speaker of the House in 2006, serving in that role until the beginning of 2011. She was again elected House Speaker at the beginning of 2019 after Democrats regained control of the House, serving in that role until 2023.
Before Vice President Kamala Harris was elected to the No. 2 position in the nation, Pelosi was the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the presidential line of succession.
In 2022, an intruder entered Pelosi’s San Francisco home, where he attacked her husband with a hammer. Pelosi was in Washington, D.C. at the time of the incident. David DePape was arrested and charged with multiple state and federal charges.
