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Kamala Devi Harris is currently the Attorney General for the state of California, serving in the post since 2011. She is the first woman, African-American, and Indian-American to ever serve in the role.

Harris was born October 20, 1968 in Oakland, Calif. Her father, a native Jamaican, was an economics professor at Stanford University and her mother was a breast cancer specialist who emigrated from India. Harris was primarily raised in the Bay Area and Montreal before heading to Howard University to begin her undergraduate studies.

Harris obtained her law degree from UCLA’s Hastings College of the Law and passed the state bar in 1990. From that year until 1998, Harris worked as a deputy district attorney for Alameda County before heading up the Career Criminal Unit in the San Francisco Attorney’s Office.

The career climb for Harris continued in 2003 after she won an election to become District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, and was reelected unopposed in 2007.

In 2010, she began her campaign to become the nominee for the state attorney’s position. She was sworn in January 3, 2011. More recently,Harris was among the names considered as a possible choice to replace  Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia who died earlier this year.

However, Harris is more interested in another gig – she is currently campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by incumbent Barbara Boxer (D – Ca.) in 2017 and is considered the front-runner. If she wins, she will only be the second African-American female to hold as Senate seat in U.S. history. The first was Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun, who served from 1993-1999. To find out more about Harris’ Senate campaign, click HERE.

 

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The Ten Most Interesting Little Known Black History Facts
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