More than 1,200 elected officials, community and corporate leaders and members of the media attended The Black Women's Agenda, Inc. luncheon during this weekend's Congressional Black Caucus Foundation conference in Washington, D.C.

During the awards luncheon, Sen. Kamala Harris received the President's Awards, BWA's highest honor, for exemplifying its ideals and goals. Harris said in her speech that black women have continued to make major accomplishments including being the most educated group in the U.S. and the demographic's voting record in recent elections. She also made it clear that America would do itself a favor by adopting the black women's agenda.

"We know the agenda is still very much something we have to fight for," she said. "I also would say, the black women’s agenda is America’s agenda. Let’s be clear about that."

BWA is celebrating four decades of empowering black women. The organization hosted the Annual Symposium Workshop and Awards Luncheon at the Marriott Marquis hotel. While it's not an official event of the CBC conference, it is one of the most anticipated by black women in leadership each year.

“For 40 years, The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. has protected, secured and advanced the issues and rights of African-American women and their families,” said BWA President Gwainevere Catchings Hess. “Today we pay tribute to our founders. In these anxious and uncertain times, we also reaffirm our commitment to speaking truth to power and securing for black women all of the opportunities and privileges America promises its citizens.”

Other award recipients this year included April Ryan, White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief for American Urban Radio Network and a political analyst for CNN; Simone Askew, the first African-American woman to lead the Corps of Cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point; Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, President of the NAACP New York State Conference; Briana Richardson, an activist and freshman political science major at Spelman College; and Dr. Patricia A. Maryland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascension Health Care, who presented BWA with $50,000 to go toward the organization's work and mission.