WASHINGTON >> Democrat Jennifer McClellan, holding the receipt for a poll tax her father once had to pay tucked into the pages of a family Bible, was sworn into the U.S. House on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a ceremonial swearing-in with McClellan. Members on both sides of the House — Democrats and Republicans — stood and applauded.

Virginia is now the 23rd state to be represented by a Black woman, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of historical records.

“It is a tremendous honor, not only when I think back on my own family history, and what my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents went through to make this possible, but the fact that I’m the first from Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy and the birthplace of American slavery, is kind of poetic justice,” McClellan said.

— The Associated Press