When Kamala Harris was sworn in as the vice president of the United States on January 20, 2021, it marked many firsts.
Not only did she become the first woman to ever take on the second-highest office in the land, but as a child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she was also the first Black and first South Asian American to do so.
And now, after receiving a 2024 democratic nominee endorsement by President Biden, who announced his decision to drop out of the presidential race on July 21, Harris is once again in line to make history as the first Black and Asian American woman ever to lead a major party ticket.
Stating on X that she was “honored” by Biden’s endorsement and would “earn and win” the nomination,” if Kamala does win the election in November, she’ll be the first Black and Asian American woman to become president of the United States.
Of course, being first is nothing new to the 59-year-old whose résumé is brimming with trailblazing achievements. In 2004, Harris became the first Black woman to serve as district attorney of San Francisco, and in 2010, she became the first Black woman elected attorney general of California.
As such, she hasn’t shied away from discussing her racial and cultural identity along the way.
Kamala Harris is proud of her South Asian roots
“My mother, grandparents, aunts and uncle instilled us with pride in our South Asian roots,” Harris wrote in her 2019 autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.”
Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, gave both Harris and her sister, Maya, Sanskrit names to reflect that pride.
“Our classical Indian names harked back to our heritage, and we were raised with a strong awareness of and appreciation for Indian culture,” the passage continued. “All of my mother’s words of affection or frustration came out in her mother tongue — which seems fitting to me, since the purity of those emotions is what I associate with my mother most of all.”
She’s also a proud, confident Black woman
“My mother understood very well that she was raising two Black daughters,” Harris explained in her book. She added that her mother, who died in 2009, “knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as Black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud Black women.”
She’s addressed racial attacks on her heritage
During a 2019 appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” co-host Charlamagne tha God asked Harris about claims that she was “not African American” simply because her parents were immigrants.
“So I was born in Oakland and raised in the United States except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada,” Harris replied. “And, look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us. And so, I think that we know what they are trying to do.”
As for being Black, she put it plainly: “I’m Black, and I’m proud of being Black. I was born Black. I will die Black, and I’m not going to make excuses for anybody because they don’t understand.”
As a child, she was included and excluded because of her race
“I grew up going to a Black Baptist Church and a Hindu temple,” Harris recalled in a 2015 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Though she felt accepted in those houses of faith as a child, she wasn’t always welcomed in the houses of her own neighbors.
“The neighbors’ kids were not allowed to play with us, because we were Black,” Harris noted of life in her father Donald Harris’ Palo Alto neighborhood.
She attended an HBCU to be immersed in ‘Black culture’
In the 1980s, Harris attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., and she found that the experience of going to historically Black colleges and universities proved particularly important when it came to feeling connected to community.
In 2019, she told The Washington Post, “When you’re at an HBCU, and especially one with the size and with the history of Howard University — and also in the context of also being in D.C., which was known forever as being ‘Chocolate City’ — it just becomes about you understanding that there is a whole world of people who are like you. It’s not just about there are a few of us who may find each other.”
Her ambitions are rooted in her heritage
Harris’ mother and father divorced when she was 7 years old. Living with her mother from that point on, she felt inspired to follow her mother’s lead in life.
“She was a brown woman. She was a woman with a heavy accent. She was a woman who, many times, people would overlook her, or not take her seriously, or because of her accent, assume things about her intelligence,” Harris said of her mother during her 2020 presidential campaign.
“Now, every time my mother proved them wrong. And because of who my mother was and what she believed, what she had the ability to dream was possible, and then worked to make possible. The fact that my mother never asked anyone permission to tell her what was possible, is why — within one generation — I stand her as a serious candidate for president of the United States.”
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