Kamala Harris Is America’s First Woman to Be Elected Vice President

Kamala Harris made history on January 20, when she was inaugurated as the Vice President of the United States.

When America elected Harris, they elected the nation’s first woman to be vice president, the first Black person to be vice president, and the first Asian-American to be vice president.

She is also the first Vice President of color since Charles Curtis in 1929. A member of the Kaw Nation, Curtis was the biracial son of an Indigenous mother and a white father. All other vice presidents were white.

Listening to my son’s 1st grade teacher talk about the inauguration and after asking why today is special, a little girl says, “Because we’re getting our first woman vice president” and now is when I start crying.

Today won’t automatically fix anything, but today is a good day.

— Danielle Campoamor (@DCampoamor) January 20, 2021

When Harris made her Oath on Inauguration Day, she broke the glass ceiling – no woman had ever been elected by the electoral college and the popular vote to any office of the White House. Former Secretary Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote in the 2016 Election but lost the electoral college vote.

Good morning to all of the little girls out there who will watch Kamala D Harris be sworn in today as the first female Vice President of the United States Of America.

— Sophia Shapiro (@SophiaShapiro_) January 20, 2021

To honor this historic moment in American history, Harris selected the first Latina and Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, to swear her into office.

To further honor those who came before, Harris took her oath on two Bibles, one previously owned by Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Thurgood Marshall. Marshall was the first Black Supreme Court Justice. The other bible was owned by Regina Shelton, a family friend who Harris regards as a second-mother.

Watching Kamala Harris get sworn in on Thurgood Marshall’s Bible by Justice Sotomayor was the most beautiful thing I could’ve seen.

— Moira Rose (@mychericeamour_) January 20, 2021

Harris also chose Acting Deputy House Sergeant at Arms Eugene Goodman to escort her to the inaugural platform. Goodman was the Capitol Police officer who steered an angry mob away from the Senate Chamber two weeks ago during the insurrection at the Capitol Building.

When Harris took her Oath of Office, she promised the American people that:

“I, Kamala Devi Harris, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

Harris began her political career as District Attorney of San Fransisco in 2004 before serving as California’s Attorney General in 2011. In 2017, Harris became a senator for California. An office she held until January 18 when she resigned in order to become the nation’s 49th vice president.

Harris’ win strengthens the fact women have a right to hold the highest of federal offices and is inspiring to many women of color in America.