Techinically, she is the President of the United States Senate. Her win on the Joseph R. Biden – Kamala Devi Harris 2020 ticket distinguished her as the highest-ranking female EVER elected in American history. Can she have her flowers now? No matter, because her parents, Shyamala Gopalan (immigrated from India in 1958) and Donald J. Harris (immigrated from Jamaica in 1960) planted seeds of great[1]ness when they named their first-born. Kamala enjoyed her multicultural upbringing and identifies as Black and Indi[1]an-American. Kamala means lotus in Hindu. This flower would bloom quickly in her career and experience numerous “firsts.”
Comma-la” is the correct pronunciation. With the pronouncement from womenshistorymonth.org of its 2021 theme, “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silent,” Kamala Harris is clearly top of mind. Every top has a bottom; let’s dig into her roots.
This “daughter of Oakland” was born at Oakland Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Alameda County on October 24, 1964. Three months earlier, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. Her parents raised her and younger sister, Maya, in nearby Berkeley, California, the college town where they met in 1962. Kamala Harris says that she had a “stroller eye view of civil rights demonstrations,” with parents actively engaged in Afro American interests. While other children admired fictional characters, she was impressed by the heroism of Thurgood Marshall. Her parents separated in 1972. Following her father’s loss in a custody battle, the girls moved with their mother to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, nearly 3,000 miles from home. There, she was immersed in French and in time she organized a neighborhood youth-led protest of a building owner who refused to let the children play on the lawn. Team Kamala won.
In 1982, Kamala Harris returned to the states for a welcomed immersion in Historically Black College and University (HBCU) life at Howard University. In the nation’s capital, she studied Political Science and Economics. Civil rights icons who visited campus taught her life lessons about Black empowerment. In Spring 1986, she was initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA). Founded in 1908 by “20 Pearls,” her Sorors and members of the “Divine 9” Fraternities and Sororities, would later help deliver a winning Biden-Harris election ticket in 2020. The AKA motto, “By Culture and By Merit,” permeates Kamala Harris’ service to all mankind. She earned her B.A. in 1986. Returning to west coast roots, in 1989 she earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. The State Bar of California admitted her in 1990. Soon after, she rapidly broke ground along her path to the White House and garnered national attention.
1990 – 1998: Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Deputy District Attorney
1998 – 2010: San Francisco District Attorney
While there, she earned accolades that affirmed her self-proclaimed “smart on crime” approach to justice. Remember her hero? In 2005, Kamala Harris received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Black Prosecutor’s Association. That year, she was named in Newsweek’s “20 of America’s Most Powerful Women” list. From 2007 – 2008, she campaigned for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. He would later support her bid for higher office. In 2008, the New York Times named her as a “tough fighter” with the potential to become U.S. President.
2011 – 2017: Attorney General of California
In 2013, Time Magazine listed Kamala Harris among the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” She married Doug Emhoff, fellow Attorney, in 2014, officially making her “Momala” to Cole, and Ella. In 2016, she received the BiPartisan Justice Award from the 20/20 BiPartisan Center.
2017 – 2021: United States Senator for California
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Senator Kamala Harris credited her mother and grandmother, Rajan Gopalan, for inspiring her run for President, and for her ‘nevertheless persist’ fortitude.
2019: Candidate for President of the United States
Kamala Harris visited her alma mater in Washington, D.C. on the day she launched her campaign for President. She did the unexpected on the campaign trail by donning “Chucks and Pearls,” a fashion statement now synonymous with women who support her. In an interview series with Complex’s Sneaker Shopping, she opened up about her affinity for Converse sneakers, “…it has to do with the fact we all want to go back to some basic stuff about who we are as a country. Chucks – whatever your background is, whatever language your grandmother spoke – you know, we all at some point or another had our Chucks.”
With sister Maya, also an attorney, as Campaign Chair, Kamala Harris selected Baltimore, Maryland and Oakland, CA as campaign headquarters. Though not the first African-American woman to aim for the White House, she broke the glass ceiling with her Vice-Presidential win. Kamala Devi Harris is also the first South Asian American woman to break political ranks. “For the people” has long been her battle cry.
You may cry when reading the books that Kamala Harris has authored:
- The Truths We Hold: An American Journey
- The Truths We Hold: Young Readers Edition
- Superheroes are Everywhere
- Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer
2021: Vice President of the United States
Her namesake, the lotus, thrives in the muddiest, underwater conditions. Any other flower would drown. Like the lotus, she regenerates with each political battle that she endures. Her persistence and capacity to prevail, for the people, is remarkable. Echoing the sentiments of her mother, she approaches her place in history with this pledge, “While I may be the first women in this office, I won’t be the last.”
On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was inaugurated as the Vice President of the United States of America. She and Doug, became residents of the official residence of the Vice President, on the White House grounds, located at Number One Observatory Circle.
Most importantly, she moved into the West Wing. She will be addressed as “Mrs./ Madame President” when presiding over the United States Senate. Cheers and bouquets, Chucks and Pearls to our new national flower.
Tisha L. Hammond is known as The Small Business CheerleaderTM. She is the International Bestselling Author of ‘Daily Devotional for Entrepreneurs: Your Season to Grow,’ a 12-week guide to faith-based, profit-first entrepreneurship. Find her weekly ‘Pep Talk LIVE’ on YouTube and at www.tishahammond.com.