A look into the family background of US Vice-President, Kamala Harris, whose mother was from India and a renowned biomedical scientist, who raised the former single-handedly.
Kamala Devi Harris, commonly known as Kamala Harris is the 49th and current Vice President of the United States. Kamala is the first female Vice President in the country's history. After Joe Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, Kamala Harris was the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2024 Presidential Election. If Kamala wins the elections and becomes the US President, she will be the first female and first Asian-American President of the United States.
Talking about Kamala Harris' personal life, she is married to Douglas Craig Emhof, who is an American lawyer and the second gentleman of the United States. However, before Kamala, Douglas was married to Kerstin Mackin, who is an American film producer.
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The ex-couple got married in 1992 and parted ways in 2008. After his divorce from Kerstin, Douglas got married to Kamala in 2014, and since then, they've been going strong. Douglas and Kamala have no kids. However, the former has two kids, Cole and Elia, from his first marriage to Kerstin.
Amidst all the spotlight on Kamala Harris, it is her family background that is getting a lot of attention as it has roots in India. For the uninitiated, Kamala was born on October 20, 1964, in California's Oakland to her parents, Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan. The duo met for the first time in 1962 when they were studying at the University of Berkeley. While Donald was from Jamaica, Shyamala was from India. Due to their shared interest in civil rights, Donald and Shyamala fell in love with each other.
After their first meeting in 1962 and dating each other for some months, Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan got married in 1963. The couple welcomed their first child, Kamala Harris, in 1964, and their second daughter, Maya, in 1967. After completing their graduation, Donald and Shyamala relocated to the Midwest, as the former got a teaching job there. Soon after shifting to the Midwest, cracks started appearing in their happy married life.
Despite their continuous efforts, Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan filed for divorce in 1972. While Donald stayed in the Midwest, Shyamala came back to Northern California with her daughters, Kamala and Maya. The doting mother was a distinguished breast cancer researcher who worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She also worked for 16 years at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University Faculty of Medicine.
For the uninitiated, Kamala Harris was nearly five years old when she realised that her parents, Donald J. Harris and Shyamala Gopalan were going to part ways. Back in 2019, Kamala wrote a memoir, The Truths We Hold, in which she talked about her parents' divorce and wrote a line to explain their falling marriage. She penned, "They loved each other very much, but it seemed like they had become like oil and water."
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Not only this, but Kamala Harris also added that if her parents had been a bit mature back in those days, their marriage could have survived. She wrote, "Had they been a little older, a little more emotionally mature, maybe the marriage could have survived. But they were so young." After their divorce, Shyamala raised Kamala and Maya all on her own and played a crucial role in shaping her elder daughter's career. From packing lunches to helping her daughters in their studies, the doting mother worked around the clock to raise them.
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Kamala Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan died on February 11, 2009, due to colon cancer at the age of 70. It was a massive shock to Kamala as her mother was her biggest supporter. In her memoir, Kamala opened up about her mother's demise and clearly stated that she misses her every day and carries her mommy with her. Not only this, Kamala also labelled her mom as the 'greatest source of inspiration' of her life.
In her memoir, The Truths We Hold, Kamala Harris talked about her mother, Shyamala Gopalan's dying wish. She revealed that her mother wanted to return to India, but that couldn't happen due to several reasons. However, Kamala submerged her mother's ashes on the beach in Besant Nagar, where she used to go on a stroll with her grandfather. To sum up her mother's sacrifices, Kamala Harris penned a beautiful line in her memoir that goes like this:
"There is no title or honour on earth I'll treasure more than to say I am Shyamala Gopalan Harris's daughter."
What are your thoughts on Kamala Harris' Indian roots? Were you aware of it? Let us know.
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