When “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” These words by Nelson Mandela are a fitting opening to the life story of Sarah McBride, one of the most courageous and trailblazing figures in American politics. Her journey from a young political enthusiast in Delaware to the halls of the United States Congress is not just a personal triumph, it’s a seismic cultural shift in American democracy.
Sarah Elizabeth McBride, born on August 9, 1990, in Wilmington, Delaware, had politics in her blood from an early age. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother a high school guidance counselor who also helped found the Cab Calloway School of the Arts. From these roots sprang a passion for civic duty and justice. Sarah attended Cab Calloway and graduated in 2009, then pursued political science at American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 2013.
At American University, Sarah was elected student body president in 2011. But it was at the end of her term in 2012 that she made headlines by coming out as a transgender woman in the university newspaper.
