Kamala Harris

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is making history a century after the 19th Amendment passed, becoming the first Black woman and the first woman of South Asian descent to serve as a vice presidential nominee on a major party ticket.

Harris’s entire career has been marked with firsts, giving representation to women of color from various backgrounds. Harris was the first woman, first Black woman, and first Asian American woman to serve as the attorney general of California — or of any state. She is the first Indian American to serve as a senator and the second Black woman to be a senator. 

Harris started her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She won a tight race to be attorney general in 2010, then beat a fellow Democrat for her Senate seat in 2016. Her presidential campaign fizzled after a promising start, but she was a front-runner from the beginning to win a spot on Biden’s ticket.

Harris never forgets to pay homage to her parents on the campaign trail. 

“They fell in love in that most American way — while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s,” Harris said at the Democratic National Convention in August. 

The women of Harris’s blended family, her sister, niece and step-daughter, who affectionately calls her “Momala,” honored Harris’s mark on history and generations to come. 

“Now that I’m a mom, you’re showing my daughters and so many girls around the world who look like them what’s possible, and what it’s like to move through the world as fierce, formidable, phenomenal women,” Harris’s niece, Meena Harris, said. 

— Julia Manchester