Explainer | Kamala Harris: biography, net worth, husband Douglas Emhoff and path to vice-presidency
- Kamala Harris has broken barriers as America’s first female vice-president
- Senator from California has a track record of shattering glass ceilings
Kamala Harris made history with her election as Joe Biden’s vice-president, becoming the first woman, first black American and first Asian-American to win the second highest US office. Here’s what we know about her.
Biography
Kamala Harris, 56, was born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California to immigrants to the United States. Her father Donald Harris came from Jamaica and her mother Shyamala Gopalan came from India.
Her parents met as doctoral students at the University of California, Berkeley at the dawn of the 1960s.
They were two freethinking young people drawn to activism. Later, even with young children, the duo continued their advocacy. As a little girl, Harris says she remembers an energetic sea of moving legs and the cacophony of chants as her parents made their way to marches.
But the marriage did not last, meaning that Kamala and her younger sister, Maya, grew up largely with their mother and absorbed her Indian culture.
Though a decade has passed since Harris’s mother died, she remained a force in her daughter’s life and her White House bid. Harris has often spoken of the deep bond she shared with her mother, whom she has called her single biggest influence.