Portia Harris Hawes is the great granddaughter of John A. Hyman, the first African American elected to Congress from North Carolina’s Second District in 1874. Her mother, Portia Jenkins Harris, was a dressmaker and growing up, young Portia admired the quilts her mother made with scraps from her dressmaking. Portia is a retired Home Economics and Costume Design Teacher, community advocate for children, and a 63-year Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., charter member of the Suffolk County, New York Chapter.
Portia Hawes