Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the presumptive winner of the 2020 Presidential Election, after he secured 20 electoral votes by winning Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, The New York Times reports.
But perhaps equally historic is the fact that his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is set to become the first Italian American First Lady in our nation’s history.
Her story, and its humble beginnings, read like so many accounts that have been passed down from one Italian American generation to the next.
Her grandfather, Domenico Giacoppo, emigrated with his parents (Gaetano and Concetta) from Sicily to Ellis Island in 1900, and worked as a furniture deliveryman in New Jersey. Her father, Donald, started as a bank teller and went on to become the head of a savings and loan institution in Philadelphia.
“Every weekend of my childhood, my parents would drive me and my four younger sisters back to New Jersey to see our grandparents. We loved the Annual Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Festival. The rides, games, fireworks and the grand procession of saints through the streets of Hammonton… It was a festival where many Italian grandparents would bond with their grandkids,” Dr. Biden said during a recent Q&A with writer Joe Battaglia. “My grandmother cooked traditional Italian dishes for Sunday dinner. We would go to my grandparents house every Sunday because her cooking was the best. The red sauce and the meatballs and the pasta… I have beautiful memories of cooking with my grandmother, mom and four sisters. It was at their house that I made homemade tomato sauce for the first time.”
Dr. Biden has a bachelor’s and doctoral degree from the University of Delaware, as well as two master’s degrees. She taught English and reading in high schools for 13 years, and also taught adolescents with emotional disabilities at a psychiatric hospital.
Since 2009, she has been a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College and is thought to be the first Second Lady to hold a paying job while her husband was vice president.
Despite a leave of absence due to her role with the campaign, she plans on returning to work during Mr. Biden’s presumptive first term as president.
“I would love to. If we get to the White House, I’m going to continue to teach,” she said in an interview with CBS’ Rita Braver that aired on CBS Sunday Morning. “I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and to lift up the profession.”
Her work ethic and close ties to her Italian American roots align with the ISDA mission of preserving and promoting our traditions, history and heritage, and we wish her and President-elect Biden well in the months and years to come.
