Omar Bennett
Kamala Harris is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. She is of Black Jamaican and Indian ancestry, with her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, self-identifying as Caucasian in Harris's birth certificate, and her father, Donald J. Harris, self-identifying as Jamaican. Harris has been the target of racist and sexist misinformation, with her opponents repeatedly attacking her racial identity. Despite this, Harris's racial identity has been a source of pride and inspiration for many Americans, particularly those who identify as multiracial.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Kamala Devi Harris |
| Birthdate | October 20, 1964 |
| Race | Multiracial, Black, South Asian, Biracial, African-American, Asian-American, Indian, Jamaican |
| Political Party | Democratic Party |
| Profession | Politician and Attorney |
| Position | 49th Vice President of the United States |
| Tenure | 2021-2025 |
| President | Joe Biden |
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What You'll Learn
Kamala Harris is of Black Jamaican and Indian heritage
Kamala Harris is the first woman of Black Jamaican and Indian heritage to be a major party's presidential nominee. Harris is the daughter of a brown woman and a Caribbean man. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is a biologist who arrived in the United States from India in 1958 to enrol in graduate school. Her father, Donald J. Harris, is Afro-Jamaican and immigrated to the United States in 1961. Donald Harris was the first Black scholar to be granted tenure at Stanford University's economics department.
Harris has been the target of racist and sexist misinformation, with her opponents repeatedly attacking her race. In 2024, then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump falsely suggested that Harris had misled voters about her racial and ethnic identity. Trump's comments tapped into the long history of racism in America, where some white people have defined racial categories and policed the boundaries of race. Harris's supporters have responded to these critiques by creating positive political memes celebrating her identity.
Harris's multiracial background and upbringing were on full display at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where her relatives joined her onstage for the traditional balloon drop. Western attire and saris were worn side by side, showcasing the diversity of her family. Harris's biracial identity has been described as either a strength or a weakness, depending on who is asked.
In a pre-election focus group, some Black Americans believed that Harris was not Black and was embracing that racial identity to win over Black voters. However, Harris's identity as a biracial woman has resonated with the millions of Americans who identify as multiracial. Harris's candidacy was a watershed moment, and she ultimately secured 83% of the Black vote in the 2024 presidential election.
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Harris is the daughter of a brown woman and a Caribbean man
Kamala Harris is the daughter of a brown woman and a Caribbean man. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a biologist who immigrated to the United States from India in 1958 to pursue graduate studies in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. Gopalan self-identified as Caucasian in Harris's birth certificate, which has been used to discredit Harris's racial identity. However, this classification misinterpreted historical racial classifications, as "Caucasian" was often used interchangeably with "white" during that time period. Anthropologists once considered people from the Caucasus Mountain region to include both Europeans and Indians.
Harris's father, Donald J. Harris, is an Afro-Jamaican who immigrated to the United States in 1961. He self-identified as "Jamaican" in Harris's birth certificate, and Jamaica's population largely consists of descendants of enslaved Africans brought by the English to work on sugar estates, with a small proportion having mixed Afro-European ancestry. Harris's parents met in 1962, married in 1963, and lived in Berkeley until they moved in 1966, around Harris's second birthday. Harris was born in Oakland, California, on October 20, 1964, and her racial and cultural background has been a topic of interest and discussion throughout her political career.
As the first female vice president of the United States, serving from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden, Harris's racial identity has been the subject of both celebration and scrutiny. Harris herself has opted for direct mentions of her multiracial background and upbringing, honouring her roots and the multicultural village of "aunties" and "uncles" in California's Bay Area. Her supporters have embraced her identity, turning critiques into positive political memes celebrating her inclusivity. Harris's popularity, particularly among younger, media-savvy voters, has been attributed in part to her ability to appeal to a broad range of people who see themselves reflected in her layered background.
However, Harris's racial identity has also been the target of attacks and misinformation, particularly from her political opponents. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned Harris's racial identity, falsely suggesting that she misled voters about her heritage. Trump's comments tap into the long history of racism in America, where racial categories have been defined and policed by white people. Despite these attempts to diminish her authenticity, Harris's candidacy and subsequent vice presidency represented a watershed moment, widely recognized by the media.
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Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, self-identified as Caucasian
Kamala Harris is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. She is of Black Jamaican and Indian ancestry. Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, self-identified as Caucasian on her daughter's 1964 birth certificate.
Gopalan was born in Madras, Madras Province, British India (present-day Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) in 1938. She arrived in the United States in 1958 to pursue a master's degree in nutrition and endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. Gopalan's father, P. V. Gopalan, was a civil servant, and her mother was a homemaker. In 1962, Gopalan met Donald J. Harris, a graduate student in economics from Jamaica, and they married the following year. The couple had two daughters, Kamala and Maya, before divorcing in 1972.
In the context of Harris's birth certificate, the term "Caucasian" does not imply that Gopalan identified as white. Rather, it reflects the historical racial classifications in the United States, where "'Caucasian' was used interchangeably with 'white' until relatively recently. Anthropologists and legal rulings in the early 20th century classified Indians as Caucasian but distinguished them from whites, making them ineligible for citizenship under a 1790 law. It was not until 1950 that Asian Indians were classified as "White" in the US Census.
The self-identification as Caucasian by Shyamala Gopalan, Harris's mother, on the birth certificate, is indicative of the complex and evolving nature of racial classifications in the United States. It also highlights the multiracial and multicultural background of Kamala Harris, which has been a significant aspect of her political career and life story.
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Harris's father, Donald Harris, self-identified as Jamaican
Kamala Harris, the former Vice President of the United States, has a multiracial background and upbringing. Harris is the daughter of a brown woman and a Caribbean man. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a biologist who immigrated to the United States from India in 1958. Her father, Donald J. Harris, is a Jamaican-American economist and professor who immigrated to the United States in 1961. Donald Harris self-identified as Jamaican on Harris's birth certificate. He was born in Brown's Town, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, and grew up in St. Ann Parish. He earned a Bachelor's degree from the University College of the West Indies and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Donald Harris has worked extensively on the economy of Jamaica and has served as an economic policy consultant to the Jamaican government and as an advisor to several prime ministers. In 2021, he was awarded Jamaica's Order of Merit, the country's third-highest national honour, for his contributions to national development. He has held professorships at various universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Stanford University, where he became the first Black scholar to be granted tenure in the economics department.
Kamala Harris's racial and cultural background has been a topic of interest and discussion, with some questioning her identity. Harris has described herself as a biracial woman, with Black Jamaican and Indian ancestry through her parents. She has honoured her multicultural upbringing and the diverse village of "aunties" and "uncles" in California's Bay Area. Harris's multiracial identity has been both celebrated and targeted by different groups, reflecting the complex nature of racial discourse in the United States.
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Harris is the first female U.S. vice president
Kamala Devi Harris is the first female U.S. vice president. She is also the first African-American and the first Asian-American vice president, making her the highest-ranking female and Asian-American official in U.S. history. Harris is of Black and South Asian heritage, with an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. She has described herself as a "child of immigrants" and has paid tribute to her roots and her multiracial background and upbringing. Harris's identity as a biracial woman has been both celebrated and scrutinized, with some Republicans questioning her racial and ethnic identity.
Harris was born in Oakland, California, on October 20, 1964, to Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist who immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1958, and Donald J. Harris, an Afro-Jamaican who immigrated to the U.S. in 1961. Her parents met in 1962 and married in 1963. The family lived in Berkeley until they moved when Harris was around two years old. She spent her early years in college towns in the Midwest, where her parents held teaching and research positions. Harris graduated from Howard University, a historically Black university, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Before becoming vice president, Harris served as a U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021 and as the state's attorney general from 2011 to 2017. She gained national attention for her pointed questions to officials in the Trump administration during Senate hearings. In 2020, Harris sought the Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew before the primaries. She was then selected by Joe Biden as his running mate, and they went on to defeat Trump and Mike Pence in the 2020 presidential election. Harris's vice presidency began on January 20, 2021, and she presided over an evenly split U.S. Senate, casting a record-breaking 33 tie-breaking votes.
In July 2024, after Biden withdrew his candidacy for reelection, Harris launched her own presidential campaign and became the Democratic nominee. She selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. However, she ultimately lost the election to Trump and Ohio senator JD Vance. Despite this setback, Harris's achievements as the first female vice president have brought her closer than any woman before her to breaking what has been described as "the highest, hardest glass ceiling."
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Frequently asked questions
Kamala Harris is biracial, with Black Jamaican and Indian ancestry. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is from India and identifies as Caucasian. Her father, Donald J. Harris, is from Jamaica and is Afro-Jamaican.
Harris's race has been a topic of discussion due to attempts by her political opponents, including Donald Trump, to question the authenticity of her racial identity. These attempts have been interpreted as efforts to diminish her popularity among the Black electorate and turn her identity into a political weapon.
During her 2024 presidential campaign, Harris opted for direct mentions of her multiracial background and upbringing, paying tribute to her roots and honouring her multicultural upbringing.
