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Family of Kamala Harris

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"Harris family" redirects here. For the entertainment family, see Harris entertainment family.
Family of Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris with her husband and step children in 2024
Current regionLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Place of origin
Members
Connected members

Kamala Harris is the 49th vice president of the United States. Harris was formerly the junior United States senator from California, and prior to her election to the Senate, she served as the 32nd attorney general of California. Her family includes several members who are notable in politics and academia.

Harris's maternal ancestry comes from Tamil Nadu, India. Her paternal ancestry comes from Saint Ann, Jamaica. She is married to American entertainment attorney and law professor Douglas Emhoff.

Immediate family

Douglas Emhoff

Main article: Doug Emhoff
Second Gentleman of the United States Douglas Emhoff in 2021

Douglas Emhoff is the husband of Kamala Harris. He was born to Jewish parents[1] Michael and Barbara Emhoff in Brooklyn, New York. He lived in New Jersey from 1969 to 1981, moving with his family to California when he was 17.[2][3][4] Emhoff graduated from the California State University, Northridge and USC Gould School of Law.[5] He married film producer Kerstin Emhoff (née Mackin) in 1992; they divorced in 2008 after 16 years and two children.[6][4] He married Harris on August 22, 2014, in Santa Barbara, California, with Harris's sister Maya Harris officiating.[7]

Emhoff is an entertainment litigator and began his career at Pillsbury Winthrop's litigation group. He later moved to Belin Rawlings & Badal, a boutique firm, in the late 1990s. He opened his own firm with Ben Whitwell in 2000. The firm was acquired by Venable in 2006. Emhoff joined DLA Piper as a partner in 2017, working at its Washington, D.C., and California offices.[8][9] Following the announcement that his wife would be Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 United States presidential election, Emhoff took a leave of absence from the firm.[9] After the Biden–Harris ticket won, the campaign announced Emhoff would permanently leave DLA Piper before Inauguration Day to avoid conflict of interest concerns.[10]

Cole Emhoff

Cole and Ella Emhoff at the 2021 inauguration ceremonies on Capitol Hill, January 20, 2021

Cole MacKin Emhoff is the stepson of Kamala Harris through her marriage to Doug Emhoff.[11][12] He was born September 15, 1994, to Kerstin Emhoff and was named after jazz musician John Coltrane.[13] Emhoff graduated from Colorado College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Emhoff was an assistant at William Morris Endeavor before becoming an executive assistant at Plan B Entertainment. Emhoff calls Harris "Momala".[14] He married Greenley Littlejohn on October 14, 2023, in a Los Angeles ceremony that was officiated by Harris.[15]

Ella Emhoff

Main article: Ella Emhoff

Ella Emhoff is the stepdaughter of Kamala Harris through her marriage to Doug Emhoff. She was born May 29, 1999, to Kerstin Emhoff and was named after jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.[12] In 2014, she was in the music video for Bo Burnham's song "Repeat Stuff". In 2018, Emhoff graduated from high school in Los Angeles where she was on the swim team.[16] She is an artist majoring in apparel and textiles at Parsons School of Design. Emhoff calls Harris "Momala".[12] She designed her inauguration day dress with designer Batsheva Hay.[17][18]

Immediate family tree

Kerstin Emhoff
b. 1967		Doug Emhoff
b. 1964		Kamala Harris
b. 1964
Cole Emhoff
b. 1994		Ella Emhoff
b. 1999

Parents

Shyamala Gopalan

Main article: Shyamala Gopalan

Shyamala Gopalan was the mother of Kamala Harris. Shyamala[a] (December 7, 1938 – February 11, 2009) was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,[19] whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene stimulated advances in breast biology and oncology.

Donald J. Harris

Main article: Donald J. Harris

Donald J. Harris is the father of Kamala Harris. He is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, originally from Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica. Of Jamaican descent, Harris was born on August 23, 1938, to Beryl Christie Harris (née Finegan)[20][21] and Oscar Joseph Harris.[22] He grew up in the Orange Hill area of Saint Ann Parish, near Brown's Town.[23][24] Harris received a Bachelor of Arts from the University College of the West Indies in 1960. In 1963 he came to the United States to earn a PhD from University of California, Berkeley which he completed in 1966.[25] He met his future wife, Shyamala Gopalan through the civil rights movement.[26] Harris was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1966 to 1967 and at Northwestern University from 1967 to 1968. He moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an associate professor in 1968. In 1972, he joined the faculty of Stanford University as a professor of economics. He directed the Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies in 1986–1987. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Brazil in 1990 and 1991 and in Mexico in 1992. In 1998, he retired from Stanford becoming a professor emeritus.[25]

Other relatives

Maya Harris

Main article: Maya Harris

Maya Harris is the younger sister of Kamala Harris. She was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and Montreal.[27] She had her only child Meena Harris at the age of 17. Harris completed a Bachelor of Arts at University of California, Berkeley and earned a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School.[28] She works as a lawyer, public policy advocate, and a television commentator.[29][30] Harris married lawyer Tony West in July 1998.[31]

Vice President Kamala Harris with her sister Maya Harris, January 2021

Meena Harris

Main article: Meena Harris

Meena Harris is the niece of Kamala Harris. She was born in Oakland, California in 1984. Harris completed a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a J.D. at Harvard Law School.[32] She is a lawyer and children's book author. She founded a campaign to raise awareness on social policy issues.[33] Her 2020 children's book is based on the life story of her mother and aunt.[34] Harris and her husband Nikolas Ajagu have two daughters.[35]

P. V. Gopalan

Main article: P. V. Gopalan

P. V. Gopalan (1911 – February 1998) was the maternal grandfather of Kamala Harris.[36][37] Gopalan was a career civil servant, eventually serving as Joint Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation.[36] He was later deputed to the Government of Zambia and lived in Lusaka as Director of Relief Measures and Refugees, to help Zambia manage an influx of refugees from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).[36] Gopalan and his wife Rajam were from Tamil Nadu state and had wed in an arranged marriage.[36] They had four children. Their eldest daughter Shyamala became a scientist in the United States and Canada. Their son Balachandran received a PhD in economics and computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and returned to an academic career in India.[36][38] Their daughter Sarala is an obstetrician who practiced in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Their youngest daughter Mahalakshmi is an information scientist, who worked for the Government of Ontario.[36]

Gopalan Balachandran

Gopalan Balachandran, the uncle of Kamala Harris, studied at St. Xavier's College Calcutta, University of Calcutta and the Imperial College London. He obtained a PhD in Economics and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1978 with dissertation devoted to Financial regulation of decentralized economies. He was a consulting fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, Delhi.[39][40] He was married to Rosamaria Orihuela Basurto in 1980.[41]

Sharada Balachandran

Sharada Balachandran Orihuela is the first cousin of Kamala Harris. She is an Indian Mexican born in Mexico to Rosamaria Orihuela and Gopalan Balachandran. She started formal education in New Delhi and moved frequently between India, Mexico, and the United States.[42] After moving to Oakland, California for college in 2001, Balachandran Orihuela's aunt, Shyamala Gopalan, helped her cope with race relations in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and later influenced her intellectual trajectory.[43] Balachandran Orihuela graduated from Mills College and University of California, Davis.[42][43] She is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at University of Maryland, College Park.[43] She authored the 2018 book, Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves.[43]

Christine Simmons

Christine Simmons was a family friend who Kamala Harris has referred to as an aunt.[44] She joined Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1950 while attending Howard University.[44] She was a former chapter president.[45] Simmons died in 2015.[45]

Ancestry of Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris is of Jamaican descent on her paternal side and of Indian descent on her maternal side.[46][47] Donald J. Harris wrote in an account of his family ancestry that the Harris name comes from his paternal grandfather Joseph Alexander Harris, a land owner and agricultural produce exporter, and that his paternal grandmother "Miss Chrishy" (née Christiana Brown) was a descendant of both enslaved Jamaicans and Hamilton Brown, a plantation and slave owner.[48][49] However, Snopes, a fact-checking website, rated this claim as unproven pending further research. In July of 2019, Snopes noted that Harris made errors in some of the vital dates he provided for births and deaths of his grandparents.[24] The following year, PolitiFact stopped short of Snopes's unproven rating, and again reviewed the validity of the story, saying about the Stanford professor emeritus's claim that he is the descendant of the slave owner, "I would be inclined to believe him."[50]

Harris' maternal ancestral home is the village of Thulasendrapuram in India, in which her grandfather P. V. Gopalan was born.[51][52]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ As per the cited sources and the common naming conventions of her family

References

  1. ^ Emmrich, Stuart (August 13, 2020). "The 9 Things We Know About Kamala Harris's Husband". Vogue. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  2. ^ Davis, Mike (August 12, 2020). "Kamala Harris's husband, Douglas Emhoff, has 'NJ in his veins'". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Reston, Maeve (June 3, 2019). "What to know about Douglas Emhoff, Kamala Harris's husband, after that onstage protester moment". CNN. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Friedman, Gabe (August 11, 2020). "Kamala Harris is Joe Biden's VP pick – here's what Jewish voters should know". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Cullins, Ashley (March 29, 2019). "First Gentleman? Kamala Harris's Attorney Husband Talks 'Endlessly Fascinating' Campaign Trail". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  6. ^ Harris, Kamala (May 10, 2019). "Sen. Kamala Harris on Being 'Momala'". Elle. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Siders, David (August 25, 2014). "Kamala Harris married in Santa Barbara ceremony". The Sacramento Bee.
  8. ^ "Harris' husband takes on growing public role in 2020 race". AP News. June 9, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Bonos, Lisa (August 20, 2020). "The story of Kamala and Doug, a match made in Hollywood (literally)". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  10. ^ "The Latest: Lincoln Project taking on GOP-linked law firms". AP News. November 10, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  11. ^ "Cole MacKin Emhoff, Born 09/15/1994 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". californiabirthindex.org. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c Jean-Philippe, McKenzie (August 12, 2020). "Sen. Kamala Harris's Step-Kids Call Her "Momala"". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  13. ^ Harris, Kamala (May 10, 2019). "Sen. Kamala Harris On Being 'Momala'". Elle. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  14. ^ Pomarico, Nicole (August 13, 2020). "Who Is Cole Emhoff, Kamala Harris's Stepson?". YourTango. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  15. ^ Tauber, Michelle (November 15, 2023). "Kamala Harris Shares the Marriage Advice She Gave Stepson Cole Emhoff (Exclusive)". People. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  16. ^ Pomarico, Nicole (August 13, 2020). "Who Is Ella Emhoff, Kamala Harris's Stepdaughter?". YourTango. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  17. ^ Specter, Emma (January 20, 2021). "How Ella Emhoff and Batsheva Hay Came Up With An Inauguration-Worthy Dress". Vogue. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  18. ^ Goldberg, Carrie (January 20, 2021). "Ella Emhoff Wears Miu Miu and Batsheva to the Inauguration". Harper's BAZAAR. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  19. ^ Tabasko, Michael (July–August 2021), "A Fortuitious Connection: Vice President Kamala Harris's Mother and Her NIH Collaborations" (PDF), NIH Catalyst: A Publication About NIH Intramural Research, 29 (4), National Institutes of Health, Office of the Director: 1, 6, Gopalan eventually left Canada and returned to California to continue her work on the role of hormone receptors in breast-cancer development at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California). She was awarded several NIH grants supporting her research through 2001, and her lab published their findings in 2006 (Cancer Res 66:10391–10398, 2006; DOI:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-0321). (Photo caption: Shyamala Gopalan Harris (left) in her lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.)
  20. ^ McDermott, Peter (September 23, 2020). "Running mates share a family name". The Irish Echo. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  21. ^ "Who is Donald Harris? Kamala's Jamaican dad is a prominent economist". Loop Caribbean News. November 10, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  22. ^ Harris, Kamala (2019). The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 320, 330. ISBN 978-0-525-56072-2.
  23. ^ Harris, Donald J. (September 26, 2018). "Reflections of a Jamaican Father"., as published in "Kamala Harris's Jamaican Heritage". Jamaica Global Online. January 13, 2019. Archived from the original on January 24, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  24. ^ a b "Did U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris's Ancestor Own Slaves in Jamaica?". Snopes.com.
  25. ^ a b Harris, Donald J. "Professional career". Stanford University. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  26. ^ Clarke, Chevaz (August 14, 2020). "Get to know Kamala Harris's family". CBS News. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  27. ^ "PM Golding congratulates Kamala Harris – daughter of Jamaican – on appointment as California's First Woman Attorney General". Jamaica Information Service. December 2, 2010. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  28. ^ "Officially Speaking". Student Lawyer. 27 (2). Law Student Division, American Bar Association: 16. December 1998.
  29. ^ Equal Justice Society; Protecting Equally: Dismantling the Intent Doctrine & Healing Racial Wounds, Maya Harris
  30. ^ "Prop. 54 soundly beaten: The tide turned when foes of the ballot measure shifted gears from bias to health care". The Sacramento Bee. October 8, 2003.
  31. ^ Driscoll, Sharon (May 17, 2010). "Tony and Maya: Partners in Public Service". Stanford Lawyer. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  32. ^ "Meena Harris '12". Harvard Law Today.
  33. ^ "How to change the world, a five step guide". vogue.com.au.
  34. ^ "Meena Harris". harpercollins.com.
  35. ^ Bose, Debanjali (August 13, 2020). "Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's VP pick, comes from a family of lawyers and Stanford graduates. Meet the family". Business Insider. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
  36. ^ a b c d e f Bengali, Shashank; Mason, Melanie (October 25, 2019), "The progressive Indian grandfather who inspired Kamala Harris", Los Angeles Times, retrieved April 24, 2020 Quote: In her 2019 memoir, The Truths We Hold, Harris wrote that Gopalan had been part of India's independence movement, but family members said there was no record of his having been anything other than a diligent civil servant. "Had he openly advocated ending British rule, he would have been fired," Balachandran said.
  37. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey; Raj, Suhasini (August 16, 2020). "How Kamala Harris's Family in India Helped Shape Her Values". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  38. ^ Kamala Harris's Indian family reacts to her selection as Biden running mate – CNN Video, August 13, 2020, retrieved August 19, 2020
  39. ^ ‘High Time…’: US Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris’s Uncle Gopalan Balachandran On Her India Connect, Sidhant Mishra, News18.com, July 31, 2024
  40. ^ Not to be confused with Gopalan Balachandran, a professor of International History and Politics in Switzerland.
  41. ^ [https://academic.oup.com/north-carolina-scholarship-online/book/18144/chapter-abstract/176069749?redirectedFrom=fulltext Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves: Piracy and Personhood in American Literature Fugitives, Smugglers, and Thieves: Piracy and Personhood in American Literature, Sharada Balachandran Orihuela, Front Matter, May 2018]
  42. ^ a b Balachandran Orihuela, Sharada (January 2012). "Doctoral student highlight" (PDF). La Monarca. Vol. 3. University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 28, 2021. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  43. ^ a b c d Farrell, Liam (November 12, 2020). "First Cousin". The University of Maryland Today. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  44. ^ a b Adams, Char (August 14, 2024). "Harris holds access to an untapped voting bloc: The Divine Nine". NBC News. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  45. ^ a b Givhan, Robin (September 16, 2019). "Kamala Harris grew up in a mostly white world. Then she went to a black university in a black city". Washington Post. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  46. ^ Kamala Harris's diverse family heritage – CNN Video, August 14, 2020, retrieved August 19, 2020
  47. ^ "The progressive Indian grandfather who inspired Kamala Harris". Los Angeles Times. October 25, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  48. ^ Harris, Donald J. (August 19, 2020). "KAMALA HARRIS'S JAMAICAN HERITAGE – UPDATED – 14.01.2019". Jamaica Global Online. Jamaica Global. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  49. ^ "'Jamaica to the world:' A small town on a small island celebrates Kamala Harris' meteoric rise". www.cnn.com. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  50. ^ "Looking into Claims That Kamala Harris Is The Descendant Of Slave Owners". PolitiFact. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  51. ^ "Prayers for Kamala Harris in ancestral Indian village, for Trump in Delhi". CNN. AFP. November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  52. ^ Venkatasubramanian, Saradha. "Kamala Harris: The tiny Indian village claiming her as its own". BBC News. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
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