Who was Shyamala Gopalan? Kamala Harris' influential mother
Kamala Harris with her mother Shyamala Gopalan and sister.
Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago Friday (Aug 23) and paid tribute to her Indian-origin mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, before a jubilant crowd.
Taking the stage on the fourth and final day of the Democratic Party convention (DNC), Harris said her mother was only 19 when she alone traveled from India to California with an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.
"My mother Shyamala Harris had one of her own dream and I miss her every day especially today. And I know she's looking down tonight, and smiling," she told the gathering in Chicago.
"My mother was the primary one who raised us. Before she was able to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. In the Bay Area, you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We lived in the flatlands—a lovely working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers, all of whom took great pride in tending their lawns," Harris added.
Who was Shyamala Gopalan?
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Kamala Harris' mother Shyamala Gopalan was a breast cancer specialist who moved abroad from Tamil Nadu in 1960 to pursue a doctorate in endocrinology at the University of California Berkeley.
Gopalan earned her doctorate by age 25 and went on to become a prominent breast cancer researcher. At Berkeley, she met Harris’ father, Donald Harris, whom she married in 1963 and divorced in 1971.
"After finishing school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage, but she met my father, Donald Harris, a student from Jamaica. They fell in love and got married, and that act of self-determination made my sister, Maya, and me," Harris said in her speech.
Kamala's sister, Maya Harris, also spoke at the DNC and recalled how their mother moved to US from India to pursue a better life and encouraged her daughters to do follow their dreams.
She said, "Mommy's journey, and the opportunities she sought for Kamala and me represent a distinctly American story."
Maya also mentioned that if their late mother was here, she would say how proud she was of her daughter. Then, "without missing a beat, she'd say, "That's enough. You've got work to do."
(With inputs from agencies)