The passage of the 19th amendment, over a century ago, enabled some’s voting rights; today, the first woman occupies office as the Vice President of the United States. Kamala Harris, with her black, Indian, and Jamaican descent, marks significant milestones in her position. Continuing to make history, a new era has begun.

Childhood background 

Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, had arrived in the United States from India in 1958 as a 19-year-old; she became a biologist cancer researcher. Her father, Donald Harris, who came from Jamaica taught at Stanford University. 

Born in 1964, She had a very normal childhood up till she was 7 with her sister Maya when her parents sadly separated. She went on with her life and eventually attended Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C. 

Harris then returned to California to attend law school at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law through its Legal Education Opportunity Program. While at UC Hastings, she served as president of its chapter of the Black Law Students Association. She graduated in 1989 and a year later she joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s office where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. 

Accomplishments

In 2002, Harris prepared to run for District Attorney of San Francisco against two others. Harris won with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first person of color elected as district attorney of San Francisco.

Fast forward to 2010, she was elected attorney general of California! Thus becoming the first female and first African American to hold the post. A book she wrote, smart on crime, was considered a model for dealing with the problem of criminal recidivism. 

In 2014 she married attorney Douglas Emhoff. She was chosen to be recruited for the U.S. Senate for a seat that belonged to a woman who was retiring. 

In 2016 she won the election by a landslide for calling for immigration and criminal- justice reforms, increased minimum wage, and protection of women’s reproductive rights. As the pattern continues, she became the first Indian American in the senate. 

Harris announced that she was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. In August, Biden chose her, thus the first black woman to appear on a major party’s national ticket. Heading on to November, she became the first woman to ever be elected Vice President of the United States. 

 Kamala Harris is a role model in many ways as most of her major accomplishments were stated above.  Very inspiring to not only women around the country, but specifically women of color. Not only am I a biracial woman, but we are also very alike. She is of black and Indian descent just like me. There are not nearly enough women in powerful roles represented in this country, let alone women of color. Even though we have gone through some setbacks in the past, we have come out on top and will continue to. 

Kamala stated in her victory speech “But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

Just 60 years ago, segregation was an everyday normal occurrence. And today, a woman of color breaks the substantial barrier and takes the position of vice president of the united states of America. With this progression, an era enters recognizing the power of women.