Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., invoked the memory of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights leader who took a group of Black delegates to the 1964 Democratic convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Waters said Hammer was 22 years old when she arrived with the group from Mississippi. She told the people in the room about the violence she endured at the hands of police when she demanded the right to vote. When she asked the convention, "Is this America?" she did not get the answer she hoped for, Waters said.

Sixty years later, as Democrats prepare to nominate the country's first Black woman to be the party's nominee, Hamer's legacy can serve as a reminder of how far we've come, Waters said.

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

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, an icon of the American civil rights movement and a former Democratic presidential contender, took the stage to sustained applause and standing ovations.

Jackson, 82, was seated in a wheelchair and accompanied by other prominent Black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton (who hosts a show on MSNBC) and NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

Jackson did not deliver remarks, but he smiled and waved to the crowd. He appeared after a short video highlighting the party's legacy on civil rights.

Jackson and Biden were both presidential candidates in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries. Jackson came in third in the primaries; Biden dropped out before voting started amid accusations of plagiarism.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson began his convention remarks by taking a dig at one of Trump's recent remarks.

"I'm here to do my Black job," Johnson said.

The buses bringing delegates to the Democratic National Convention this evening were delayed by protests, according to a DNC official riding one of the buses.

Demonstrators breached part of the anti-scaling fencing on the outer perimeter near the United Center, the DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center said in a joint statement.

"Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation," the statement read. "At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees."

Per the statement, there are multiple "redundancies" in the security plan, one of which is the outer perimeter.

"The Chicago Police Department remains on-scene and is working to clear the area," the statement read.

A pair of leaders from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Tribal Council began the night of speeches by praising the Biden-Harris administration for what it did to help their people reclaim land.

Zach Pahmahmi, vice chair of the council, said that in 1849, an illegal auction by the U.S. government forcibly removed the tribe from its homeland.

"Since then, we have been working to reclaim it. Finally, this year, the Department of the Interior placed some of our ancestral lands west of Chicago into a trust," he said. "Thanks to the resolve of our tribal community and the Biden-Harris administration, we reclaimed a piece of our home. We became the only federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois in 175 years."

The convention is officially kicking off, albeit 15 minutes late, with remarks by convention Chair Minyon Moore and Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.

In her opening remarks, Moore paid tribute to Biden in "passing the torch" to Harris as the presumptive party nominee.

CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, her first major proposal to raise revenues and finance expensive plans she wants to pursue as president.

Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told NBC News that she would push for a 28% corporate tax rate, calling it “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”

“As President, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity,” Singer wrote in an email.

Read the full story here.

Trump told a CBS news reporter tonight that he plans to release his medical records.

The Republican presidential nominee, who has not released a medical report since the attempt on his life last month, made the commitment during an interview in Pennsylvania, where he is campaigning.

“You will release your medical records to the public?” CBS News reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns asked the former president. 

Trump replied: “Oh, sure, I would do that very gladly, sure."

He said he just had a medical exam and received a "perfect score," as well as two cognitive tests, which he said he "aced."

Trump has faced pressure to release his medical records throughout the election cycle. He did not specify when or how he would transmit the records to the public.

Police with helmets and batons approached a group of breakaway protesters demonstrating outside the DNC venue in Chicago. 

They ordered the protesters who breached the barricade to leave. Dozens did, but dozens remained and were pushed to the left and crushed upon by police in riot gear.

Some protesters threw signs at the riot police while the riot police continued to advance on the group of several dozen protesters. After that, it appeared police made at least one arrest.

Police cleared the entire area between both barriers, but protesters on the outside continued to yell at riot police and continued to attempt to take down the gates.