Photos: About VP elect Kamala Harris & how she became 'momala'

Kamala Harris' mother came to the US in the early 1960s to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and met Ms Harris's father Donald, an economics professor, at a civil-rights protest.

They married, but divorced in 1971. Her childhood included a spell in Canada when her mother took a job teaching in Montreal before the family returned to California. Ms Harris went to Howard University, one of the top black colleges in America, and earned her law degree at the University of California. 

She became the district attorney for San Francisco in 2003, before being elected the first woman and the first black person to serve as California's attorney general. 

Ms Harris insists she has always been comfortable with her identity and describes herself simply as 'an American'. Ms Harris insists she has always been comfortable with her identity and describes herself simply as 'an American'. 

In an interview with The Washington Post, she argued that politicians should not have to fit into compartments because of their colour or background. 

'My point was: I am who I am. I'm good with it,' she said. 'You might need to figure it out, but I'm fine with it.' She married Mr Emhoff, a lawyer, in 2014 and became stepmother to his two children from a previous marriage. 

In an interview with Elle magazine last year, she said: 'When Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn't like the term "stepmom". Instead they came up with the name "Momala".' 

Yesterday, her husband shared a picture of the couple hugging on Twitter, adding: 'So proud of you.'