'Feeling Good'

As the magnificent Nina Simone sings, "It's a new dawn. It’s a new day."

Vice President Kamala Harris accepts her party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 22, 2024. (PBS)

By Michael Judge

I woke this morning with the miracle of Nina Simone’s voice in my head and the lyrics to her joyful and soulful rendition of “Feeling Good” in my heart:

Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel …

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
And I’m feeling good …

John Legend sang a stirring rendition of the song before the Lincoln Memorial at President Biden’s inaugural celebration in January 2021. But last night Kamala Harris embodied Simone’s timeless 1965 recording—with great joy, determination, and sense of history—when she formally accepted the presidential nomination at the close of the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first woman of color to be nominated by a major political party.

I watched Harris’s acceptance speech with two of the most po…