Kamala Harris: Everything you need to know about the Vice President’s parents

Kamala Harris is currently President Joe Biden’s Vice President. On Sunday, July 21, Joe Biden announced he was pulling out of the presidential race after mounting pressure from his party.

Biden endorsed Kamala Harris to take over, but the party hasn’t officially voted on the decision, which won’t happen until August. Nonetheless, Harris has gracefully accepted the nomination and is already stepping up.

As we wait to see how Kamala Harris fares in various debates against Donald Trump, who has shared his thoughts on his potential new opponant, let’s have a look at her family and, more importantly, her parents, one of which is a doctor who worked on finding a cure for breast cancer.

Kamala Harris’ parents moved to the USA to study

Kamala Harris’ parents both moved to the USA to study. As per People, her father, Donald J. Harris, moved from Jamaica to Northern California, and her mother, Dr Shyamala Gopalan, moved from India to Northern California at the age of 19.

Both studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the two, who had lived worlds apart, met by chance through their interest in civil rights. Harris' parents first met in 1962 at a study group for Black students.

As reported by The New York Times, the connection between Harris and Gopalan was instant and the pair tied the knot a year later. The couple had two children, Kamala, who has now been married for 10 years, was born in 1964 and her sister, Maya was born in 1967.

After their graduation, Harris and Golapan relocated to the midwest, where Kamala’s father landed his first teaching job. However, the marriage didn’t last and they filed for divorce in 1972. Shyamala moved back to Northern California, where she had primary custody of her two daughters.

Donald J. Harris eventually moved back to Northern California to work as an economics professor at Stanford University. Harris retired from teaching in 1998, after teaching at Stanford for over two decades, as per People.

About Kamala Harris' mother

As per Town & Country, Kamala Harris’ mother received her doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology. After completing her studies, Shyamala Golapan became a breast cancer researcher. Golapan had a successful career, which allowed her to travel to many universities around the world.

Golapan worked at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin. She also spent some time in France and Italy. Then she was offered a tenure position at McGill University in Montreal, where she stayed with her two daughters, Kamala and Maya.

Kamala Harris’ mother died in 2009

Sadly, Harris’ mother was diagnosed with colon cancer and succumbed to the disease in 2009 after unsuccessful chemotherapy. Harris still talks a lot about her mother’s accomplishments. Indeed, when the White House relaunched the federal government’s ‘moonshot’ initiative, she spoke about the moment Dr Golapan had told her she had cancer, as per The Independent.

After a lifetime working to end cancer, cancer ended my mother’s life. I will never forget the day that she sat my sister and me down and told us she had been diagnosed with colon cancer.

It was one of the worst days of my life and an experience that sadly, millions and millions of people in our country have had.

She adds that her mother’s work as a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and her research has ‘helped save women’s lives’. Dr Golapan’s research helped advance the understanding of hormones and breast cancer.

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Sources used:

People: ‘Kamala Harris' Parents: All About Her Mom Shyamala Gopalan and Dad Donald J. Harris’

Town & Country: ‘Kamala Harris's Mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, Taught Her Daughters Resilience’

The New York Times: ‘How Kamala Harris’s Immigrant Parents Found a Home, and Each Other, in a Black Study Group’

The Independent: ‘Kamala Harris chokes up discussing mother’s cancer fight’