First woman and black American to become vice president

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 and her sister. Harris used Shelton's Bible when she took the oath of office as California attorney general and later as a U.S. senator. The crowd of lawmakers, family and friends fell silent as Harris made history, then erupted into applause after she was sworn in. 

"Ready to serve," Harris wrote in her first tweet on the official Vice President Twitter account.

Ready to serve.

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 20, 2021

Harris is used to breaking barriers. Before she resigned from her Senate seat on Monday ahead of the inauguration, Harris was one of 10 Black lawmakers and only the second Black woman to serve in the upper chamber. Harris' resignation means no Black women are serving in the U.S. Senate. Before she was in the Senate, Harris was the first woman and person of color to be district attorney of San Francisco and, later, California's attorney general. Harris received as standing ovation just before she presided over the swearing-in of three new Democratic senators in the upper chamber where she used to serve. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and Alex Padilla of California, who is set to replace Harris, were sworn in Wednesday afternoon, handing the Biden administration razor-thin control of the government. The vice president will play a decisive role in the upper chamber, where she could cast a tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 split between Republicans and the Democratic caucus.