🎙️'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Black History Series Kamala Devi Harris (1964– ): A Record of Firsts That Redefined American Power

From Oakland to the Oval Office’s second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Devi Harris has reshaped the nation’s political map—breaking barriers across race, gender, and governance.

On November 3, 2020, Kamala Devi Harris made history when she was elected Vice President of the United States alongside President Joe Biden. Sworn in on January 20, 2021, Harris became the nation’s 49th vice president—the first Black woman, the first woman, and the first American of South Asian descent to hold the office.

The moment capped a career defined by “firsts.” In 2016, Harris won election to the U.S. Senate from California, becoming the first Black woman to represent the state and only the second African American woman ever elected to the chamber, following Carol Moseley-Braun. Before Washington, Harris had already carved out unprecedented territory as California’s attorney general and as San Francisco’s district attorney—again, the first woman of African American and South Asian heritage to hold each post.