Getting to Know Kamala Harris

Prior to the 2020 presidential election in the United States, Kamala Harris may have been well-known to constituents in her native California, where she hadserved as senator for the last four years. However, when Harris declared her candidacy for the 2020 U.S. presidental election in January 2019, and later found herself on the ticket as vice presidential running mate to Joseph Biden, the rest of the United States - and the world - learned much more about her.

Kamala Devi Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, Calif., to Jamaicanborn Donald Harris, a Stanford University economics professor, and Indian-born Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher. Early in her life, Harris immersed herself in civil rights, and even attended civil rights demonstrations as a toddler. Harris maintained a connection to both her Jamaican and Indian heritage and was raised with Hindu beliefs. Her name means “lotus” and is another name for the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who embodies the empowerment of women.

Harris studied political science and economics at Howard University, where she received her B.A. Three years later, she earned a law degree from Hastings College. Subsequently, Harris worked as a deputy district attorney in Oakland, Calif., prosecuting gang violence and drug trafficking cases. Rising through the ranks, Harris became district attorney in 2004, and later attorney general of California in 2010.

As a woman and a person of color, Harris has been a trailblazer in many regards. She was the first female and first black American to become California’s attorney general. In 2015, when she declared her candidacy for the U.S. Senate and later won the election, Harris became just the second black woman to hold a Senate seat and the first South Asian American to do so. Harris also is the first female, first Asian American and first black vice president in the history of the United States.

Each February, the United States honors men and women of color who have had profound impacts on the world. Kamala Harris has already made a big impact on her country and the world, and figures to continue doing so as vice president.