Washington:Kamala Devi Harris, a former California senator, has become the first woman vice president of the United States. The 56-year-old leader took oath of office on Wednesday at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration outside the US Capitol.
Ms Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
She is also the first Black woman and the first woman of South Asian descent to become US vice president.
Kamala Harris’ election to the second most important post in the US administration is being seen as a milestone as far as gender and racial equality is concerned.
In her first speech as the vice president elect last year, Ms Harris had remember her mother, and said that she would be the first woman to hold the post, but not the last.
Shortly before her historic oath as US Vice President, Kamala Harris posted a moving video tribute to her Indian mother and all the “women who came before me”.
The video, a montage of all the women who influenced Kamala Harris, played along with her words from her first speech after winning the election in November.
“I’m here today because of the women who came before me. And to the woman most responsible for my presence here today – my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts,” Kamala Harris says as snapshots of her family and her campaign flit across the screen.
Ms Harris, who began her career as an attorney in the nineties, is known for breaking several glass ceilings. She was the first Indian-American to serve as a US senator and the first woman of colour to have been elected district attorney of San Francisco. When she was elected as the Attorney General of California in 2010, she was the first woman and first African-American to do so.