Kamaladevi
Ever since Kamala Harris became the VP nominee, there’s been a lot of talk about her name.
But let’s talk about her namesake for a second.* (Not THE Namesake. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, sit down)
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian activist and freedom fighter. She and our new VP actually share more than just a name.
SINGLE MOMS FOR THE WIN - Kamala Harris’s parents got divorced when she was 7 years old. Kamaladevi’s dad passed away when she was 7.
RADICAL UPBRINGINGS - Shyamala took baby Kamala along on civil rights marches. Kamaladevi regularly hung out with her parents’ freedom fighter friends like Annie Besant and Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
POLITICAL FIRSTS - Kamala Harris was the 1st BIPOC to become San Francisco’s district attorney. The 1st BIPOC and 1st woman to be elected attorney general in California. And now the first BIPOC, first woman, AND first HBCU grad to serve as VP.
Kamaladevi broke glass ceilings as well. She was the first woman to ever run for Indian legislature in 1926. In the ’60s, she became the first person to be awarded the Padma Bhushan for social work, the third highest civilian award in India. And soon after she became the first Indian woman to be awarded a UNESCO prize.
*Okay, that was more like 100 seconds. We’re verbose and proud of it.