DNC 2024 Day 1 live updates: Biden lays out choice to 'save democracy' with Harris

During her remarks, California Rep. Maxine Waters reflected on a Democratic National Convention she attended when she was 22, when civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer "made her presence known" as vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

"It was in 1964, in Atlantic City, and she arrived with a group of Black delegates from Mississippi," Waters said of Hamer. "She simply asked that her delegates be seated in place of the state's all-white delegation."

Waters said that Hamer, after talking about the "violence she suffered at the hands of white police because she, a Black woman, had demanded her right to vote," then asked the country a "simple but profound question: Is this America?"

Decades later, with Harris as the party's nominee, Waters said she will be thinking about Hamer in November after Americans elect Harris as their president.

"We can ask ourselves, 'Is this America?' And we will be able to say loudly and proudly, 'You're damn right it is!'" Waters said.

Before paying tribute to Black political trailblazers, NAACP President Derrick Johnson took an apparent jab at former President Donald Trump.

Johnson introduced himself saying, "Good evening, I'm Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, and I'm here to do my Black job."

"We must all understand Black history is American history, and in this historic moment, we will write the next chapter together," he said.

(Trump, while speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in July, again tried to claim that migrants are taking "Black jobs" -- comments he has faced backlash over.)

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, received a standing ovation when he was wheeled on stage, right after a video on the civil rights movement ended.

Jackson was joined by other civil rights icons, including the Rev. Al Sharpton.

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Rev. Jesse Jackson gets a standing ovation

Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, received a standing ovation when he was wheeled on stage.

ABCNews.com

Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota's lieutenant governor, introduced Rep. Maxine Waters to speak at the DNC. Waters received a standing ovation before speaking.

Flanagan is poised to serve as Minnesota's next governor if Gov. Tim Walz steps down to serve as vice president.

As a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Flanagan would be the first Native American female governor.