Rule breaker, record maker: Kamala Harris' life and career

In 1982, Harris enrolled at Howard University, a historically Black university in the heart of Washington, DC.

There, she joined Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country’s oldest Black sorority, and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics.

After college, Harris returned to California and attended law school at the University of California, Hastings.

When she decided to pursue a career as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, Harris said she knew she would have to defend her choice to her friends and family.

Harris spent three decades as a prosecutor, serving as a deputy district attorney for Oakland’s Alameda County before she was elected in 2004 to be district attorney of San Francisco (pictured).