Vice President Kamala Harris steps into history as first woman of black to hold the office Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath office in a barrier-breaking ceremony Wednesday, becoming the first woman, first Black American and first South Asian American to hold the office. Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a trailblazer in her own right as the first Latina justice on the high court. the vice president took the oath with her husband and second gentleman Doug Emhoff looking on. Emhoff's two children from his first marriage also were there. After taking the oath, Harris hugged Emhoff and gave a double fist-bump to President Joe Biden. Harris used two Bibles, one that belonged to the late civil rights icon and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Harris has said inspired her career path, and one owned by family friend Regina Shelton, who was like a second mother to Harris an