1st Woman, 1st Black and 1st Asian Vice President of the USA
The January 20th inauguration of Kamala Harris was a defining moment in American history. With her husband holding two bibles, Harris was a triple history maker as she was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the very first woman, the first Black and the first Asian American United States vice president.
Harris used two bibles in the ceremony – one belonging to family friend Regina Shelton who is like a surrogate mother and the second one previously owned by the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was not only a lifelong role model to Vice President Kamala Harris but was also the first Black member of the august body of justices.
Harris was one of many Democratic candidates in the 2020 primary and despite her frequent criticism of fellow contender of Biden, he chose her as his running mate after clinching the Democratic nomination.
With the final tally, Biden-Harris garnered over 81 million popular votes to Trump-Pence’s 74 million, and the Democrats received 306 electoral votes to 232 for the Trump-Pence Republican ticket.
Harris’s father is from Jamaica, West Indies, and her mother is from India. A native Californian, she served as that state’s attorney general and as a US Senator.
In her speeches, Harris would often quote her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, repeating this popular phrase: “You will often be the first to do many things, but make sure to not be the last.” Now Harris thinks of her mother looking down from heaven and feels a sense of responsibility to think of others and to lead by example.
At the start of the inaugural ceremony, one of Harris’s colleagues and presidential contender Amy Klobuchar said of Harris, “As she takes this oath of office, little girls and boys across the world will know that anything and everything is possible. And in the end, this is truly this America.”
