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On the last day of Immigrant Heritage Month, Senator Kamala Harris, who posted several immigrant stories in previous weeks, posted an entry on Facebook about her Indian-American mother. June 30, Harris posted the following with pictures:
“I wanted to share one last story today for immigrant heritage month – my own. My mother, Shyamala Harris arrived at the University of California-Berkeley from India in 1959. She had dreams of becoming a scientist. The plan was to go back home when she finished school, but when she met my father Donald Harris, she made a different plan. She went against a practice reaching back thousands of years, and instead of an arranged marriage, chose a love marriage. This, an act of self-determination, made me and my sister Maya. And – like millions of the children of immigrants before and since – it made us Americans.”
Shyamala Gopalan Harris died Feb. 11, 2009,from cancer, at the age of 70. The San Francisco Chronicle ran her obituary on March 22, 2009, in which she is described as a “world-renowned scientist, a mentor, an activist, a mother” who “Despite her 5-ft stature, … was a commanding presence characterized by a sharp wit, keen sense of humor and endless depth of knowledge.”
SAUCE,
http://www.newsindiatimes.com/sen-kamala-harris-remembers-indian-american-mothers-journey-in-america