Kamala Harris

LOS ANGELES - DEC 04: Kamala D. Harris arrives to the 2014 Beat

Harris in 2014, photo by DFree/Bigsotck.com

Birth Name: Kamala Iyer/Devi Harris

Place of Birth: Oakland, Alameda, California, United States

Date of Birth: October 20, 1964

Ethnicity:
*father – Jamaican
*mother – Tamil Indian

Kamala Harris is an American attorney and politician. She is the Vice President of the United States, having been inaugurated on January 20, 2021. She was elected to the position in 2020. She is the first woman to serve as President or Vice President of the country. Vice President Harris also served as a U.S. Senator from California, from January 3, 2017 to January 18, 2021, as well as, as District Attorney of San Francisco, from January 8, 2004 to January 3, 2011, and Attorney General of California, from January 3, 2011 to January 3, 2017.

She was also a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2020.

Vice President Harris is the daughter of Shyamala (Gopalan), a cancer researcher, breast cancer specialist, and civil rights activist, and Donald Jasper Harris, an economics professor at Stanford University. She was born as Kamala Iyer Harris, though her middle name was changed to Devi.

Her father is Jamaican, born in Kingston, Surrey, and has African-Jamaican ancestry; he came to the U.S. in 1961. Her mother was an emigrant from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, of Tamil Indian descent; she came to the U.S. in 1958. Her name Kamala comes from the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower. A picture of Vice President Harris’s parents can be seen here. A video of Vice President Harris’s father can be seen here. A picture of Vice President Harris, her sister, and their mother can be seen here.

Vice President Harris is the third person of significant non-white descent to be nominated for U.S. President or Vice President by a major party, after Vice President Charles Curtis, who served from 1929 to 1933, and whose mother was of considerable Native American ancestry, and President Barack Obama, who served from 2009 to 2017, and whose father was a Luo Kenyan.

Vice President Harris is married to entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff. Douglas is Jewish.

Vice President Harris’s sister is Maya Harris, a lawyer and public policy advocate. Maya is married to Tony West, who served as U.S. Associate Attorney General. Maya’s daughter, Vice President Harris’s niece, is lawyer and children’s book author Meena Harris.

As a child, Vice President Harris participated in Berkeley’s busing program, as part of desegregation. Her parents divorced. When she was twelve, she moved with her mother and sister to Montréal, Québec, Canada, where her mother worked. Vice President Harris was raised attending both a black Baptist church and a Hindu temple.

Vice President Harris has said:

…if you walked on Hampton’s campus, or Howard’s campus, or Morehouse or Spelman or Fisk [historically black colleges], you would have a much better appreciation for the diaspora, for the diversity, for the beauty in the diversity of who we are as black people… I’m not going to spend my time trying to educate people about who black people are… I am black and I am proud of it… I was born black and I’ll die black and I am proud of it. And I am not gonna make any excuses for it, for anybody, because they don’t understand.

She was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2020 (sharing the award with her presidential nominee Joe Biden).

Vice President Harris’s paternal grandfather was Oscar Joseph Harris (the son of Joseph Alexander Harris and Christiana A. “Miss Chrishy” Brown). Oscar was born in Orange Hill, St Ann Parish, Jamaica. Vice President Harris’s great-grandfather Joseph was a land owner and agriculture exporter. Vice President Harris’s grandfather Oscar was said to be descended from Hamilton Brown, a plantation and slave owner, who founded the city Brown’s Town; Hamilton was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is not clear if this line of descent is accurate. The veracity of Vice President Harris’s descent from this Hamilton Brown is discussed here.

Vice President Harris’s paternal grandmother was Beryl Christie Finegan (the daughter of Patrick Alhanasous Finegan and Orah Iris Allen). Patrick was born in Thatchfield, St Ann Parish, the son of Patrick Finegan/Fenegon and Mary Watson. Iris was the daughter of John Allen.

Vice President Harris’s maternal grandfather was named Painganadu Venkataraman “P. V.” Gopalan (the son of Venkataraman Iyer and Seethalaksmni/Seethalakshmi). P. V. was born in Thulasendirapuram, Madras Presidency, British India, present-day Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, India, and was a diplomat for India. He was from a Tamil Brahmin family. Venkataraman was the son of Krishna Iyer and Ahilandeswari Krishnaiyer.

Vice President Harris’s maternal grandmother was named Rajam (the daughter of Meenakshi Ayyar). Rajam was born in Painganadu, Mannargudi. Meenakshi was the daughter of Natesa Ayyar and Janaki.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to launch a notable campaign for a major political party’s presidential nomination, in 1964, for the Republican Party. Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman to have been nominated for Vice President of the United States by a major party, the Democratic Party, in 1984, and Hillary Clinton is the first woman to have been nominated for the Presidency by a major party, the Democratic Party, in 2016. Shirley Chisholm won three non-traditional presidential nominating contests in 1972, for the Democratic Party; Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley have since been the only women to have won a major party’s presidential nominating contest, with Clinton winning 23 in 2008 and 34 in 2016, for the Democratic Party, and Nikki Haley winning 2 primaries in 2024, for the Republican Party.

Vice President Harris is one of several Asian-Americans to have mounted a notable campaign for a major political party’s nomination for President of the United States. The others were/are:
*Hiram Fong (who sought the 1964 and 1968 Republican nominations; Fong was of Chinese descent)
*Patsy Mink (who sought the 1972 Democratic nomination; Mink was of Japanese descent)
*Bobby Jindal (who sought the 2016 Republican nomination; Jindal is of Indian descent)
*Andrew Yang (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Yang’s parents are Taiwanese)
*Nikki Haley (2024; Republican; won 2 contests; Haley is of Punjabi Indian descent)
*Vivek Ramaswamy (who sought the 2024 Republican nomination; Ramaswamy is of Tamil Indian descent)

Vice President Harris is one of five people who were at least partly raised in the Hindu faith, or a Hindu-related faith, to have run for a major party’s presidential nomination. Bobby Jindal, Tulsi Gabbard, who also sought the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination; Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, are the others. Of the five, only Tulsi and Vivek identify as Hindu presently.

Four black Americans have won a caucus and/or primary for a major American political party’s presidential nomination. The four are:
*Walter E. Fauntroy (1972; Democratic; won Washington, D.C.)
*Shirley Chisholm (1972; Democratic; won 3 contests, including New Jersey)
*Jesse Jackson (Democratic; in 1984, he won 2+ states; in 1988, he won 9+ states)
*Barack Obama (Democratic; in 2008, he won 29+ states; in 2012, he won 50+ states)

Sources: Biography of Vice President Kamala Harris – http://racerelations.about.com

Articles about Vice President Harris’s parents and childhood – https://www.mercurynews.com
https://www.irishtimes.com

Snopes.com article about Vice President Harris’s Jamaican background – https://www.snopes.com

Article about media treatment of Vice President Harris’s Indian heritage – https://www.poynter.org

Family background of Vice President Harris’s father – https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com

Genealogies of Vice President Harris – https://www.geni.com
https://1.bp.blogspot.com
https://famouskin.com

Obituary of Vice President Harris’s mother – http://www.legacy.com

97 Responses

    • andrew says:

      her paternal great-grandmother Christiana “Christy” Brown was the granddaughter (or daughter?) of Hamilton Brown, a plantation owner, and founder of Brown’s Town, Jamaica, who was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

      You should include at least the first link:

      Family history of Kamala Harris – https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/

      her paternal great-grandfather, Joseph Alexander Harris, who was a land-owner and merchant, I suppose was white too.

  1. Hill says:

    I’m half black and half northern European and she’s lighter than me. She looks half white.

    • fuzzybear44 says:

      Well you know there is no fixed range for mixed bloods

    • andrew says:

      @ Hill

      Because her father has a lot European admixture.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptEwhA8yY5s

      • fuzzybear44 says:

        @Andrew

        Based on that you assumed he has a lot Euro admixture. Look, I’m not saying you’re, because I don’t know how mixed he is. However when it comes down to MGMs, you could get all the traits from you different bloodlines, and still be majority African, I’ve seen other peoples Dna results, so you can’t base it on his outside appearance.

        To me Kamala most likely takes after her mothers side more. As you can see from this image, she’s actually lighter than both her parents, yet her sister is darker:
        https://newsin.asia/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Kamala-Harris-with-mother-Dr.Shyamala-Gopalan-and-sister-Maya.jpg

        I think like a lot of black people over here, they fluctuate in color over the years.

      • midori29 says:

        @Andrew Her father DOES NOT have Alot of European admixture. And there are 100 percent black Africans lighter than her. Posting stats about her white great grandfather sounds crazy, that’s a very very long time ago. Kamalas dad has no more white admixture than the average African Carribean.

    • Multiethnicchick says:

      Skin color has nothing to do with with admixture. Besides we don’t know how black her “black” father is. If people are calling Halle Berry black, then she could easily just be a quarter black.

      • midori29 says:

        @multiethnic chick Check your reading comprehension the site says her dad is a Black Carribean and her mom is South Indian which they tend to have ALSO negrito and melanesian negrito African DNA too. So Kamala is ALOT more than a quarter black

        • andrew says:

          Melanesians do not have “African DNA”, for what it’s worth they are genetically very different to Black Africans, even thought Fijans might superficially resemble them.

          • midori29 says:

            @Andrew many sources state Melanesians migrated from Africa as everyone else and are anchient Africans. Taken from another source The people of Melanesia have a distinctive ancestry. Along with the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, they are believed to derive from the Proto-Australoids who emigrated from AFRICA between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago and dispersed along the southern edge of Asia, giving rise to Australoid populations in various places, including South India, Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands, the Philippines, and others.

          • midori29 says:

            @Andrew many sources state Melanesians migrated from Africa as everyone else and are anchient Africans. Taken from another source The people of Melanesia have a distinctive ancestry. Along with the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, they are believed to derive from the Proto-Australoids who emigrated from AFRICA between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago and dispersed along the southern edge of Asia, giving rise to Australoid populations in various places, including South India, Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands, the Philippines, and others.

            Many if not most Fijians identify with Africa.

          • andrew says:

            “Many if not most Fijians identify with Africa”

            LOL you really killed me. You are a wannabe Black African, a quadriracial person with reddish hair (your statement). Deal with that.

  2. fuzzybear44 says:

    @Andrew

    (The main reason why you support that crazy girl is because you want to screw her.)

    If that’s what you need to believe

    Quote( A Sri Lankan family runs that business, so I am familiar to that kind of people.)

    Once again, you met two or three people from an ethnic group of millions, and made up your mind that’s what they all look like. You’re the very same type of European from the 1800’s that said all black look alike

    Quote( To compare any brown people to “black” Americans is silly and stupid.)

    First I didn’t just compare any brown people, that’s your type of thing . Next,Were you with me when I knew the girl in question? NO you weren’t. So you can’t tell me what she didn’t look like. I get it, you’re set in your ways, and people like you are hard to teach new things to. However it obvious you don’t know half as much as you think you do. AA are diverse group, please at least try and learn that fact

  3. midori29 says:

    Most people do not realize how diverse South Asia is, there are black mixed looking South Asians called Madras Indians
    http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/missions/madrashistory.htm

    http://121clicks.com/inspirations/old-and-vintage-photographs-of-beautiful-india

    Link:

    • fuzzybear44 says:

      @midori29

      Nice site. However you can’t teach Andrew anything. You can have a million pictures, you could show the history of the place. You could even bring those people to him, and he still would say NO

      • andrew says:

        Yeah, I keep saying NO, dear “factual historian” from da hood. I dont need your “million pictures”. Anytime I go to the restaurant, even tonight, there are alwais these South Asians (Sri Lankans or Bengalese) who try to sell me flowers, I don’t give a s**t about your sites to know how they look, I already know that.

        • fuzzybear44 says:

          Okay, throwing in a little condescending attitude, trying to hide the fact that you don’t know anything. Well I guess that is the best that you can do.

          • madman says:

            You guys are so cute!

          • andrew says:

            he’s a charlatan, don’t take him seriously.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @ Andrew

            You’re calling someone a charlatan, that’s interesting. Pretty much everything I’ve every said on here, is backed up by indisputable FACTS. The only thing you’ve backed up, is your household toilet. You’re just mad, because it’s been proven once again ,that you don’t know anything

          • andrew says:

            It’s also a fact that once you said you weren’t completely aware of your family background (you talked about a Chinese/Japanese grandparent or something), and that was the same for other African-Americans you knew, who weren’t much informed about their ancestors (you talked about illegitimate mixed-race children sent from Europe to US). So before pretending to be an historian you shoud fix the holes inside your family history, and dealing with reality.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @Andrew

            (It’s also a fact that once you said you weren’t completely aware of your family background (you talked about a Chinese/Japanese grandparent or something)

            I never once said I had any Chinese/Japanese grandparent, once again you’re wrong.

            Quote((you talked about illegitimate mixed-race children sent from Europe to US).

            It’s called the brown babies project( kids from Germany, England etc were sent. It’s an indisputable fact.

            Quote( So before pretending to be an historian you shoud fix the holes inside your family history, and dealing with reality.)

            Well unlike you , I’m intelligent enough to handle more than one project at a time

          • andrew says:

            I didn’t invent the Chinese/Japanese grandparent out of nothing, once you told something about this possibility, perhaps I skipped a generation. I am not actually interested to know your family secrets and I respect your privacy.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @Andrew

            Okay now you’re moving on to another subject , fine.

            Quote(I didn’t invent the Chinese/Japanese grandparent out of nothing, once you told something about this possibility, perhaps I skipped a generation.)

            Well in this case you did. What I said, was that there was a possibility that I my have some Asian ancestry. However possibility doesn’t equal a fact. I also never stated what type of Asian, let alone it being a Grandparent.

            Quote(I am not actually interested to know your family secrets and I respect your privacy.)

            Secrets would imply that I had something to hide, which I don’t

            My Euro background is (French/Spanish) possible other
            MY African background (unknown)
            Native American (Choctaw/ Seminole) verified
            Possible Asian Ancestry(unknown)

            Just sitting the record straight, so no more mistakes

  4. andrew says:

    hard to see the South Asian in her, she looks half black half white.

    • fuzzybear44 says:

      Have you googled South Asians? Kamala is no different than Lesley-Ann Brandt, who in your comment states( Indians can see my Indian heritage). People of South Asian look all kinds of ways(from light to almost pitch black)

      • andrew says:

        I’m not like you, I don’t have to use Google because I personally know West African people, also North Africans, Cubans, East Europeans, South Asians etc.

        • fuzzybear44 says:

          @Andrew

          It obvious you’re not like me, I actually know things(and can backup what I say). Plus I’m in the United states(aka the great melting pot). Now accept for East Europeans(which no offense you white people all look alike to me), I know all those other types of people to. It was my North African friends that first started teaching me about North Africa (your friends obviously haven’t taught you anything).It’s obvious you do need to google South Asians, because it’s a melting pot of different color people to. However believe what you want, it’s your point of view(misguided as it is)

          • andrew says:

            I don’t have North African “friends” even though I know a lot of people from Morocco. Yes, South Asians are a melting pot of people but they’re generally brown-skinned people with straight black hair. And no, you can’t tell me white people look all the same, a Russian person is different from a Portuguese one etc.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            Quote(I don’t have North African “friends” even though I know a lot of people from Morocco. )

            Well I do, and knowing people from somewhere, and bothering to learn about those people and their culture are two different things. Unlike you, this (factual historian” from da hood) likes to learn new things

            Quote(South Asians are a melting pot of people but they’re generally brown-skinned people with straight black hair.)

            There you go again, judging only by the few you’ve seen.The brown skin color has a range to it, and so does the hair, I could give examples, but those kinda facts don’t interest you

            Quote(And no, you can’t tell me white people look all the same, a Russian person is different from a Portuguese one etc.)

            It’s no different than you telling me all Africans look the same, or what a black person is. However if you read my comment again, you would see I said (which no offense you white people all look alike to ME)

      • fuzzybear44 says:

        Midori 29

        I knew ones far darker than that. I went to a majority white school, and one of my friends I talked to in class all the time,was from India. However until she told me where she was from, I thought she was a regular black girl with(girl hair as it’s called). Her brother and cousin also went to that school. I met more people like that when I got to college. It’s just like every other place. These people are taught that whiter is better, and that’s what India likes to promote. That’s why they have a skin bleaching problem over there to

        • andrew says:

          The main reason why you support that crazy girl is because you want to screw her.

          P.S. I use to go to a poker room (I don’t play though) because their bar is alwais open during night time. A Sri Lankan family runs that business, so I am familiar to that kind of people. To compare any brown people to “black” Americans is silly and stupid.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.