Washington, November 8: With Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump in the hotly-contested presidential election, Kamala Harris is set to be America's next Vice President with many firsts. Scripting history, Kamala Harris is the first-ever woman to be elected as Vice President of America. Also, Kamala Harris will be the first person of Indian origin to be elected as US Vice President. Her father Donald Harris is a retired leftist Stanford economics professor from Jamaica. Her mother Shyamala Gopalan, biomedical scientist, was born in India's Chennai. But, Kamala Harris is not the first person of colour to hold the position. It was Charles Curtis. Kamala Harris Dials Joe Biden, Says 'We Did It'; All About The First Woman and 'The First Woman of Colour' to Become US Vice President.

Celebrating the victory of Kamala Harris, many called her as the first person of colour to be elected to serve as Vice President. It is factually wrong. The first person of colour who served as Vice President of the United States was Charles Curtis. Charles Curtis, who had significant Native American ancestry, served as the 31st Vice President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 when Herbert Hoover was the US President. Kamala Harris' Ancestral Village in Tamil Nadu Celebrates Her Victory with Special Rangoli.

Charles Curtis Was The First Person of Colour to be Elected as US Vice President:

The first person enrolled in a Native American tribe to be elected to such high office, Curtis decorated his office with Native American artefacts and posed for pictures by wearing Indian headdresses. Curtis, a member of the Kaw Nation, was a Republican. He was twice elected to the US House of Representatives and four times to the Senate. He was first and the only highest-ranking enrolled Native American ever to serve in the US government.

Despite being a native America, Curtis believed in indigenous assimilation, according to a portal. The Curtis Act of 1898 abolished Native American self-government and communal land, and allowed non-indigenous persons to buy the surplus land.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 08, 2020 10:33 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).