On January 20, 2021, history was made. Kamala Harris, a senator from California, was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States. She is the first female, first African American, and first Asian American vice president; she is a trailblazer to say the least! Along with President Joe Biden, she is committed to putting an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, working for economic relief and recovery, fighting for racial equity and an end to systemic racism, taking the steps needed to combat climate change, and reforming both immigration and our healthcare system.

Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her mother, Shyamala, was of Indian descent and met her father, who emigrated from Jamaica, while they were both students at University of California, Berkeley. Along with her younger sister Maya, Harris grew up attending civil rights demonstrations with her parents and was raised in a diverse community. She attended Howard University in Washington DC and graduated with degrees in political science and economics, and she went on to attend law school at the University of California. After graduating with her JD degree in 1989, Harris began working as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. She went on to serve as the managing attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She was then elected the San Francisco District Attorney in 2003, and she created a program that helped low-level offenders find jobs and offered educational opportunities. In 2010, she was elected to be the California Attorney General and established California’s first Bureau of Children’s Justice. She was the first woman to hold the position. In 2014, she married Doug Emhoff and became a stepmom to his children Ella and Cole, who affectionately call her “Momala”.

In 2016, Harris won a seat in the US Senate. During her time as a senator, she joined the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and focused on securing protection for DREAMers ( young undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children) and better conditions for immigrants in detention centers. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Harris received lots of attention from the media in 2018 after her questioning of Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris campaigned to be the Democratic nominee for president in the 2020 election but ended her campaign in late 2019. On August 11, 2020, she received a call from Joe Biden, who had won the Democratic spot on the ticket, and he asked her to be his running mate. She gladly accepted and turned her focus toward helping him win the election. On November 7, 2020, Biden was declared to be the next President of the United States. Both Biden and Harris were sworn in on January 20, 2021. They have since been working to get COVID-19 vaccines distributed across the country in efforts to contain the pandemic.

No matter what your political opinion may be, it is important to recognize the impact Harris will have on the fight for equality. She has said, “What I want young women and girls to know is: you are powerful and your voice matters.” These words are simple yet still pack a lot of meaning because the girls who hear them today may become the leaders of tomorrow.

This article originally appeared in the March 2021 edition of The Nazareth, Volume XCIII, No. 3.