Behind the Headlines – World Book Student
  • Search

  • Archived Stories

    • Ancient People
    • Animals
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Business & Industry
    • Civil rights
    • Conservation
    • Crime
    • Current Events
    • Current Events Game
    • Disasters
    • Economics
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Environment
    • Food
    • Government & Politics
    • Health
    • History
    • Holidays/Celebrations
    • Law
    • Lesson Plans
    • Literature
    • Medicine
    • Military
    • Military Conflict
    • Natural Disasters
    • People
    • Plants
    • Prehistoric Animals & Plants
    • Race Relations
    • Recreation & Sports
    • Religion
    • Science
    • Space
    • Technology
    • Terrorism
    • Weather
    • Women
    • Working Conditions
  • Archives by Date

« Aquamarine & Bloodstone
American Legion 100 »

Women’s History Month: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

March 13, 2019

March is Women’s History Month in the United States. In honor of the celebration, World Book looks at U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In 2018, AOC—she is often referred to by her initials—became the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress. She turned 29 less than one month before her election victory in November 2018. Ocasio-Cortez is a Democrat from the Bronx borough of New York City.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.  Credit: U.S. House of Representatives

In 2018, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is 29 years old. Credit: U.S. House of Representatives

Ocasio-Cortez was born on Oct. 13, 1989, in the Bronx. Her father was from the Bronx, and her mother came from Puerto Rico. The family later moved to Westchester County, New York. Ocasio-Cortez graduated from high school in 2007. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics at Boston University in 2011. While a college student, she worked as an intern for Senator Edward Kennedy, focusing on immigration issues. After college, AOC returned to the Bronx, where she worked for a nonprofit organization promoting education and literacy. She also started a company that published children’s books emphasizing positive aspects of the Bronx, much of which has historically been troubled by crime and poverty. For several years, Ocasio-Cortez also worked as a waitress and bartender.

Ocasio-Cortez later became an organizer for the 2016 presidential campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. In 2017, AOC announced that she would challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Joe Crowley for the party’s 2018 nomination for New York’s 14th Congressional District. The district includes parts of Bronx and Queens counties in New York City. During the campaign, Ocasio-Cortez described herself as a democratic socialist. In democratic socialism, a democratically elected government enacts policies that encourage private companies to act in the public interest. Millions of users of the social media site Twitter followed AOC because of her lively, confident personality and her criticisms of both President Donald J. Trump and her own Democratic Party.

Ocasio-Cortez defeated Crowley in the Democratic primary held in June 2018. As a candidate for Congress, she advocated for universal health care, tuition-free public college, and increasing the income tax rate paid by Americans who earn more than $10 million per year. Since taking her seat in the House in January 2019, AOC has promoted a number of major reforms, including a platform known as the “Green New Deal,” which calls for a system in which all the nation’s electricity would be produced by renewable sources such as the sun and wind.

Tags: alexandria ocasio-cortez, house of representatives, new york, u.s. congress, women's history month


  • Most Popular Tags

    african americans archaeology art australia barack obama baseball bashar al-assad basketball black history month california china climate change conservation earthquake european union football france global warming isis japan language monday literature major league baseball mars mexico monster monday music mythic monday mythology nasa new york city nobel prize presidential election russia soccer space space exploration syria syrian civil war ukraine united kingdom united states vladimir putin women's history month world war ii