Female First-Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest ranking female politician in American history.
Harris was born in Oakland, California, the daughter of a mixed-race immigrant couple, her mother a scientist from India and her father an activist from Jamaica.
Coming from a mix-raced and faith home, Harris attended both African American churches where she and her sister joined in the choir, as well as Hindu temples, where her mother taught and shared her culture with her children.
Following her parents’ separation, Harris moved to Canada with her mother, and spent her teen years there. She later moved back to the states in 1982, to attend Howard University.
She began her career in politics at a young age, interning as a mailroom clerk for California senator Alan Cranston, while she studied political science with a minor in economics as an undergraduate. She graduated in 1986 and began graduate school soon after at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
After her graduation in 1989 she was admitted to the California Bar Association in 1990, making her a lawyer at the tender age of 26. From the 1990s to the 2010s her career flourished. From deputy district attorney, to assistant district attorney in 1998, to becoming the first district attorney of color in San Francisco in 2004.
Harris remained as DA for seven years where she was known for, “creat[ing] a ground-breaking program to provide first-time drug offenders with the opportunity to earn a high school degree and find employment. The program was designated as a national model of innovation for law enforcement by the United States Department of Justice,” according to the Biden-Harris Administration.
Her career continued to progress as she was elected Attorney General in 2011 by the state of California, followed by becoming a U.S. Senator in 2017.
After a stellar run for President of the United States, Harris decided to end her campaign only to be asked to join former Vice President Joe Biden as his running mate. In January 2021, Harris became the first female to ever be sworn in as the Vice President in U.S. history.
