Sandra Broome-Edwards, 67, has worn pearls every day since early January.

“I’ve been sitting at home watching Good Morning America with my pearls on,” she said. “It’s my way of acknowledging the momentous occasion that is coming.”

Broome-Edwards is one of over 430,000 women who are members of a Facebook group called “Wear Pearls on Jan 20 2021”. The idea is to honour Kamala Harris, the country’s first female vice-president-elect, who wore her signature pearls when she graduated Howard University, was sworn into Congress, grilled Brett Kavanaugh, debated Vice-President Mike Pence, as she received her Covid-19 vaccine and, it’s likely, again when she is sworn on Wednesday.

“They represent sisterhood,” said Darnell-Jamal Lisby, a fashion historian. They are also the symbol of Harris’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, which she joined while at Howard, a historically black college.

“I have been staving off my own brand of mini depression,” said Broome-Edwards, a retired information technology manager in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Finding this group has given me a new focus. Looking at all these photos has taken my mind off what is occurring in the world.” She spends two to three hours on the site every day. On Inauguration Day she will be wearing the double strand necklace that belonged to her grandmother.

“My grandmother was a very avid poll worker,” she said. “She would be so proud of Kamala Harris.”

The group was started in early December by Hope Aloaye, 46, a retired Navy chief who lives in Orange Park, Florida. “I woke up and thought, ‘We need to come together as women not just to celebrate Kamala Harris, but ourselves,’” she said.

Within three days, the group had 1,000 followers. Within a week, it reached 30,000. Demand has been so high that Aloaye tapped 20 volunteers to help her vet requests to be admitted to the group ensure there are no bad actors.

While many of the participants are black, there are other races represented in the group from over 99 countries.

New York Times News Service