Kamala Harris Recordings

Kamala Harris is the first African-American, the first Asian-American, and the first female Vice President of the United States of America

Economics student Donald J. Harris arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, on a scholarship from his native Jamaica in the fall of 1961. He would go on to earn his doctorate at the University, but our story begins as classes were starting the next year when Harris spoke at a meeting advocating for the adoption of a Black Studies program as well as the celebration of the Kwanzaa holiday.

After the meeting, Harris was approached by another immigrant, medical student Shyamala Gopalan who was born in British India. The pair began dating, were married in 1963, and in 1964 gave birth to their daughter, Kamala.

Kamala and her younger sister, Maya, spent their early years living in the "flatlands" area of Berkeley, a predominantly black-populated area. When she began kindergarten, she was bused to Thousand Oaks Elementary School in a more prosperous part of town. A neighbor brought the girls to a local African American church and their mother made sure to introduce them to Hinduism at a local temple.

Donald and Shyamala divorced in the early 1970s. Shyamala accepted a research position in Quebec and the girls moved with her, although they made trips to Jamaica to meet Donald's family as well as to Madras, India, to meet their maternal grandparents. After completing high school in Quebec, Kamala entered Howard University in Washington D.C. and worked as a clerk for California Senator Alan Cranston.

After attaining a degree in Political Science and Economics from Howard, Kamala returned to California where she entered the UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. After admission to the California Bar in 1990, she accepted a position with the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.

Harris was recruited in 1998 to act as an Assistant District Attorney in the office of San Francisco DA Terence Hallinan, although she soon had conflicts with others on the staff over policy matters. In 2004, Kamala Harris became the first person of color to be elected to the office of San Francisco District Attorney, defeating the incumbent Hallinan.

After serving two terms as San Francisco DA and introducing several judicial and prosecutorial reforms, Harris ran for and was elected as California Attorney General. She was reelected in 2004, and over her two terms introduced more of the reforms she initiated as San Francisco DA, emphasizing reducing criminal recidivism while working on consumer protection and privacy issues as well.

When longtime incumbent US Senator Barbara Boxer announced that she would not seek reelection, Harris began a bid for the seat, winning the election in 2016. She was sworn into the Senate by then-Vice President Joe Biden on January 3, 2017. Senator Harris served on the Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She introduced and co-sponsored several bills aimed at helping working-class citizens.

Senator Harris announced her candidacy for President of the United States in January 2019, and for most of the primary race was considered a leading contender for the Nomination. With 29 candidates in contention for the Democratic nomination, the race had the widest field of any Party since 1972. Harris's performance in the early Democratic Debates pitted her directly against former-VP Biden and boosted her standings in the polls, but the Campaign began to lose steam thereafter.

Kamala Harris withdrew her name from the nomination race on December 3, 2019, citing diminishing funds. In March, she endorsed eventual nominee Joe Biden. On August 11, 2020, just days before the Democratic National Convention, Presumptive-Nominee Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate. The Biden-Harris ticket handily won the popular as well as the electoral contest in November, although reporting of the final results was delayed. On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first African-American, the first Asian-American, as well as the first female Vice President of the United States of America.

A mutual friend set Kamala up on a blind date with entertainment attorney Doug Emhoff in 2013. The couple was married on August 22, 2014, and Harris became step-mother to Emhoff's two children.