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Writer's pictureKashvi Gupta
May 15, 20236 min read

Kamala Harris: The First Female to Reach Office

By: Kashvi Gupta


“But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” Madame Kamala Devi Harris is well known for being the first woman to be Vice President of the United States of America. Ms. Harris worked really hard and fought powerfully to bring honor to women and girls in the whole wide world. Ms. Harris’s determination for equality and her roots of activism and leadership from both of her parents have helped her become the important role model she is today. Her childhood and her education have led her to understand the importance of equality, fairness, and the importance of making a difference in the world. Ms. Harris made many impacts to show no woman or girl is weak and that every girl and woman is more than raising kids.

Childhood

Kamala Harris’s childhood shows that she was confident and was willing to work hard to fight for what was right. She was born in Oakland, California on October 20, 1964. As a child, she was exposed to civil rights when she was just a toddler. Vice President Harris’s parents had marched in the civil rights movement at that time and sometimes took her along in a stroller, too. Kamala Harris grew up in her parents’ culture exposed to many varieties of customs since her mom, Shyamala Gopalan, was Indian and her dad, Donald Harris, was Jamaican. She was taken to Black baptist churches and Indian temples. This helped Kamala Harris enhance her biracial roots and understand the black world around her more clearly. At age 7, Kamala Harris’s parents divorced and her mother, herself, and her little sister, Maya moved to Quebec, Canada. There, when Madame Harris was 12 years old, kids weren’t allowed to play on the lawn in front of her apartment. Ms. Harris felt that she had to take action! The other kids in Ms. Harris’s apartment, her sister, and Ms. Harris protested against the owners of the apartment. They protested hard and wouldn’t stop! So, finally a couple of weeks later, all the kids got their right to play on the lawn. People say Vice President Harris got her strength in activism because her mother grew up around activism and leadership. It must have been true, since Kamala Harris won her first protest at 12 years old, and it was against adults! When Kamala Harris started attending middle school, she started getting interested in music and dance. Her mother also started introducing her to important role models such as Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. Motley motivated Kamala Harris to become a lawyer Kamala Harris’s mother would always say, “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.” These words guided Kamala Harris ever since she was born.

Education

Kamala Harris’s education helped her explore her interests and know what she wants to be. Kamala Harris attended Westmont High School in Quebec,Canada. Since she was interested in dance and music, she found a dance troupe with her friend and joined. Ever since she was young, she wanted to be a lawyer and her education helped her want it more than anything. After Madama Harris graduated from high school, she attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. There, she started becoming engaged in politics even more. So, she was elected in the liberal arts student council and she joined the debate team. On Harris’s weekends at Howard, Harris would protest South African racial segregation. In the article “Kamala Harris: The many identities of the first woman vice-president” by bbc.com, it says, “Lita Rosario-Richardson met Kamala Harris while at Howard in the 1980s when students would gather in the Yard area of the campus to hang out and discuss politics, fashion and gossip. ‘I noticed she had a keen sense of argumentation.’” Even Ms. Rosario-Richardson knew that Ms. Harris is a strong and proud political woman. When Kamala Harris graduated from Howard, she went to “The University of California, Hastings College of Law”. There with lots of hard work and big effort, Madame Harris earned her Juris Doctor in 1989 (J.D.). A J.D. is an academic degree in law and a primary law degree in the U.S.



Achievement and Impact

Kamala Harris had a really strong sense of justice. If her eyes are set on a goal, she won’t stop until she reaches it. Ms. Kamala Harris became a lawyer in 1989. Then, in 1990, Harris took her 1st job. She worked and worked on her first job, but as she kept on going, Madama Harris felt that being a prosecutor could help change racial segregation more, so Madame Harris worked as a prosecutor in the Office of the District Attorney of San Francisco in the Alameda County. Her family was surprised, since all Kamala Harris had ever talked about in her childhood was being a civil rights lawyer. She handled many things such as murder, robbery, and sexual assault cases. Kamala Harris also led the Division of Families and Children and started a program that helped emergency room staff. Kamala Harris held her job for 8 years. Then a spot opened for being the District Attorney of San Francisco, so Ms. Harris left her job and immediately launched her campaign! Many others joined her fight and soon enough, in 2003, Kamala Harris got elected and won. She was the first woman and the first black person to hold this position. Ms. Harris used her role to take more action against crime. She also used this role to reduce the rate of people reoffending. Kamala Harris founded “Back on Track” because she wanted to make sure that there were very few reoffenders. “Back on Track” gave offenders training in life skills. Offenders could take “Back on Track” instead of jail. Many offenders joined “Back on Track” and barely any of the offenders who joined reoffended. “Back on Track” was a success! Ms. Harris also focused on job seeking and school attendance. A couple years later, Ms. Harris launched her campaign to be the California Attorney General. She won the spot for California in 2010. Once again, Ms. Harris was the first woman and the first African American to hold this position. Immediately, after she won, Kamala Harris launched implicit bias training. As Kamala Harris worked as California Attorney General, she wondered how much more of a difference she could make as a US Senator. Luckily, in 2015, Senator Barbara Boxer wasn’t running for reelection. Harris launched her campaign at once! On November 8, 2016, Kamala Harris won her spot as a US Senator. She officially became a Senator on January 3, 2017 and she became the first woman of color and first Indian to hold this position. In her first year, Ms. Harris participated in high profile hearings. She questioned Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein and she questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions. All of this was part of the investigation into the Russian interference in the election where Former President Donald Trump was fighting the Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. Harris wanted to make a difference in her position, so she passed new laws. Most of her bills didn’t become laws, but some bills did. It was hard for Ms. Harris to pass new laws because she was a Democrat and at that time Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. Although, the bill that did pass was the Rent Relief Act which helped people a lot.

Later on, Kamala Harris got an invitation from President Biden to be his running mate. Many people thought Harris would say no, but if Harris won, she could make so many big differences as Vice President. So, Ms. Harris accepted the invitation. It was a hard and tiring debate against Donald Trump and Mike Pence, but Kamala Harris and Joe Biden didn’t give up. In “Kamala Harris: The Vice President” it mentions a quote by Kamala Harris speaking at an event. The quote is “At every step of the way, I’ve been guided by the words I spoke from the first time I stood in a courtroom: Kamala Harris, for the people.” Kamala Harris wanted to make things fair and so she fought hard and really roughly always being guided by those words. On November 7, 2020 Kamala Harris and Joe Biden won against Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Ms. Harris became the first woman, African American, and Asian American to be Vice President of the United States of America. Ms. Harris knew that with this position she is making an impact by merely showing that girls are powerful. Kamala Harris has encouraged many little girls in the world today, and every person who reads this knows that Madame Vice President Kamala Harris is a really powerful role model in the world for everyone to this day.

Kamala Harris has shown the world that women are no less than men and blacks are no less than whites. Her childhood and education has helped many people open their eyes to equality. Ms. Harris’s strong sense of justice and determination has led people to know that equality is the best thing for everyone. Harris’s position as Vice President of the USA will help everyone know the rights of equality. Thanks to Kamala Devi Harris, today young girls and other women can be treated more fairly and be seen as important people that contribute to the world in every way possible.













Bibliography

Kelsey, Jopp, Kamala Harris. Epic! Creations.



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