Clinton Makes History As Democratic Presidential Nominee

A Hillary Clinton supporter walks the floor prior to the start of the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
A Hillary Clinton supporter walks the floor prior to the start of the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images
A Hillary Clinton supporter walks the floor prior to the start of the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
A Hillary Clinton supporter walks the floor prior to the start of the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Clinton Makes History As Democratic Presidential Nominee

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The Democratic National Convention made history this afternoon: Amid applause, shouts, cheers and in some cases tears, the delegates on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, nominated Hillary Clinton for president of the United States.

Clinton is now the first woman presidential candidate of a major American party.

It is a historic moment 150 years in the making, starting when suffragettes demanded the right to vote and Victoria Claflin Woodhull became the first woman to run for president in the United States in 1872.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake opened the vote by asking delegates: “Are you all ready to make history?”

And then in a ritual that spans all 50 states and territories, each delegation cast their votes for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Quiet echoes of the acrimony that marked the first day of the convention were still heard in the arena with some Sanders supporters booing when Clinton was mentioned. But on Tuesday, Clinton supporters were vociferous, easily drowning out the jeers with acclamation.

The history of the moment was repeated often by delegates.

Isabel Baker, an 88-year-old delegate from Oklahoma, was born in 1929 just nine years after women were given the right to vote.

“I never thought I would live to see this day,” she said, as she cast the state’s vote.

Clinton’s own path to this moment is decades in the making. Her political career began as a social activist in the late ’60s. She became the first lady of Arkansas and the first lady of the United States. In 2001, she became a senator from New York and beginning in 2009, she served four years as secretary of state during the Obama administration.

She ran for president and lost the Democratic nomination to President Obama in 2008. Back in June, when it became clear that she had enough delegates to win the nomination, Clinton acknowledged the milestone.

“Tonight’s victory is not about one person,” she said. “It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.”

The proceedings began with nominating speeches for Sanders and Clinton.

Shyia Nelson, an environmental activist from Vermont, spoke in favor of Sanders’ nomination.

“Our revolution continues we will never stop working for a future we believe in,” she said. “We will never stop fighting for the change we need and we will never forget the man who leads us.”

Clinton’s name was entered into nomination by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, one of the first female senators in the country.

“On behalf of all the women. I proudly place Hillary’s Clinton’s name in nomination to be the next president,” Mikulski said to rapturous applause.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.