Log in Sign up
Back to Discover
📖

Kamala Harris

society Maturity 11-13 war conflict politics
This article covers sensitive topics: war_conflict, politics. Parents can manage visibility in Parental Controls.

Kamala Harris is a leader.

Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
She was the vice president. She worked in many big jobs. She helps make rules for the land. Her work matters to many people.
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Do you like to help people?

46 words

Kamala Harris is a leader.

Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
She was born in California. Her mother was a scientist. Her father was a teacher.
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
She went to many schools. She studied to be a lawyer. She worked as a district attorney. Later, she was a senator. She became the vice president.
Harris oath of office.jpg
Harris oath of office.jpg
She was the first woman to do this job. She was also the first Black and Asian woman. She worked hard to help her country.

87 words

Kamala Harris is a leader in the United States. She was born in Oakland, California, in 1964.

Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
Her mother was a scientist from India. Her father was a teacher from Jamaica. Kamala went to many schools. She studied at Howard University and in San Francisco.
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
She became a lawyer to help people.

Harris held many important jobs. She was the district attorney for San Francisco. Then, she was the attorney general of California.

Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
After that, she became a U.S. senator. In 2021, she became the vice president. She is the first woman to hold this role. She is also the first Black and South Asian American vice president.

As vice president, she helped pass new laws. She also cast many tie-breaking votes in the Senate. In 2024, she ran for president. She was the nominee for the Democratic Party. She ran with Tim Walz. She lost the election to Donald Trump and JD Vance.

178 words

Kamala Devi Harris is a famous American leader. She served as the 49th vice president of the United States. This job began in 2021 under President Joe Biden. She made history in many ways during her time in office. She was the first woman to be vice president. She was also the first African American and first Asian American to hold this role.

Harris oath of office.jpg
Harris oath of office.jpg

Harris grew up in a family of smart researchers. Her mother, Shyamala, was a scientist from India. She studied how the body works at UC Berkeley. Her father, Donald, moved from Jamaica to the United States. He became a famous teacher at Stanford University. Kamala lived in many places like Illinois and Wisconsin. She even spent time in India to learn about her mother's culture.

Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg

Before she was vice president, Harris worked as a lawyer. She studied at Howard University and later in San Francisco. She started her career in the office of the district attorney. In 2003, she became the district attorney of San Francisco. She also served as the attorney general of California starting in 2011. In this role, she helped protect people's money and privacy.

Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg

From 2017 to 2021, Harris was a U.S. senator from California. She worked on many important laws in the Senate. She spoke up for rules about guns and healthcare. She also supported the DREAM Act and rules for cannabis. During Senate hearings, she asked many tough questions to government officials. This helped her become well-known across the whole country.

Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg

In the 2020 election, Harris became the running mate for Joe Biden. They won against Donald Trump and Mike Pence. As vice president, she cast 33 tie-breaking votes in the Senate. This helped pass important laws like the Inflation Reduction Act. In 2024, she ran for president with Tim Walz as her partner. She lost that election to Donald Trump and JD Vance.

341 words

Kamala Devi Harris is an American politician and attorney. She served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. She served under President Joe Biden. Harris holds several historic titles in the United States. She was the first female vice president. She was also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. She is the highest-ranking female and Asian public official in U.S. history.

Harris oath of office.jpg
Harris oath of office.jpg

Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her family had strong ties to education and science. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, was an Iyengar biomedical scientist. She moved from India to the United States in 1958. She studied endocrinology, which is the study of hormones, at UC Berkeley. Her research on the progesterone receptor gene helped advance breast cancer research. Her father, Donald Jasper Harris, immigrated from Jamaica in 1961. He became the first Black scholar to receive tenure in the economics department at Stanford University.

Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg

Harris grew up moving between several different locations. Her parents lived in college towns like Urbana and Evanston, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin. After her parents divorced when she was seven, she lived in Berkeley with her mother. During the early 1970s, she often traveled to Chennai, India. There, she stayed with her maternal grandfather. She learned to speak some Tamil and wear traditional Indian clothing. Later, she lived in Montreal, Quebec, while her mother worked at McGill University.

Kamala Harris with Barack Obama 2009-11-25.jpg
Kamala Harris with Barack Obama 2009-11-25.jpg

Her education prepared her for a long career in law. She graduated from Westmount High School in 1981. She then attended Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C. At Howard, she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She earned a degree in political science and economics in 1986. Later, she attended the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She earned her Juris Doctor, which is a professional law degree, in 1989.

Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg

Harris began her legal career in Alameda County as a deputy district attorney. She later moved to San Francisco to work in the District Attorney's Office. In 2003, she was elected the district attorney of San Francisco. She was the first person of color to hold that position. During her time there, she focused on many different areas. She created a Hate Crimes Unit to protect LGBT youth. She also started a Reentry Division to help former prisoners return to society. This program had a recidivism rate of less than 10%. Recidivism is when a person returns to prison after being released.

In 2010, Harris was elected as the attorney general of California. She was the first woman and the first South Asian American to hold this office. She served from 2011 to 2017. During her second term, she focused heavily on consumer protection. She helped recover billions of dollars for citizens through settlements with large corporations. She also worked on privacy rights by collaborating with tech companies like Apple and Google. She wanted to ensure that mobile apps disclosed how they shared user data.

Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg

From 2017 to 2021, Harris served as a U.S. senator from California. She won her election in 2016. In the Senate, she advocated for several specific policies. These included stricter gun control laws and the DREAM Act. She also supported the federal legalization of cannabis. She became well-known for asking pointed questions during Senate hearings. One notable moment involved questioning officials from the first Trump administration. She also questioned Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court nomination hearings.

Kamala Harris with Dreamers - 2017-12-06.jpg
Kamala Harris with Dreamers - 2017-12-06.jpg

In the 2020 election, Harris became the running mate for Joe Biden. They defeated the incumbents, Donald Trump and Mike Pence. As vice president, Harris presided over a U.S. Senate that was evenly split between parties. This meant her votes were very important for passing laws. She cast 33 tie-breaking votes, which is more than any other vice president. These votes helped pass the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act. In 2024, she ran for president with Tim Walz as her running mate. She lost the election to Donald Trump and JD Vance.

721 words
🖼️ Images & Media (23)
File:Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
Kamala Harris - Berkeley childhood home.jpg
File:Congresswoman Pelosi meets San Francisco's District Attorney, Kamala Harris; March 30, 2004 (cropped).jpg
Congresswoman Pelosi meets San...
File:Kamala Harris with Barack Obama 2009-11-25.jpg
Kamala Harris with Barack Obama 2009-11-25.jpg
File:Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
Kamala Harris Official Attorney General Photo.jpg
File:Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
Senator Harris official senate portrait.jpg
File:Kamala_Harris_takes_oath_of_office_as_United_States_Senator_by_Vice_President_Joe_Biden.jpg
Kamala_Harris_takes_oath_of_office_as_Unit...
File:Kamala_Harris_with_Dreamers_-_2017-12-06.jpg
Kamala_Harris_with_Dreamers_-_2017-12-06.jpg
File:Kamala Harris in Selma - 2018.jpg
Kamala Harris in Selma - 2018.jpg
File:Kamala Harris (48390414112) (crop1).jpg
Kamala Harris (48390414112) (crop1).jpg
File:Congressional Black Caucus women 2019.jpg
Congressional Black Caucus women 2019.jpg
Kamala_Harris_speaks_about_the_impeachment...
File:Kamala Harris announcing her candidacy for presidency.png
Kamala Harris announcing her candidacy...

+ 11 more

Up Next
📖
Joe Biden
Society
More to explore

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.