Kamala Harris — the second minority VP?

Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden has picked Kamala Harris as his running mate. Many are excited because, if elected, she would become our country’s first female vice president. Also, there is a common perception that she would be the first minority to serve in that office. But did you know that a minority has already served as vice president?

Charles Curtis served as vice president under Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. Born in 1860 in Kansas, Curtis was Native American on his mother’s side. His mother was Kaw, Osage, Potawatomi and French. After his mother died when he was 3, he lived for some time with her parents on the Kaw reservation. When he was 8 years old, Cheyenne Indian warriors attacked the Kaw reservation. “Indian Charley,” as he was nicknamed, hopped on a horse and with another man galloped 60 miles to Topeka to get help from the Kansas territorial governor. Later, Curtis moved to Topeka to attend high school and there lived with his paternal grandparents. They were of British descent. He attended law school, entered politics, was elected to Congress and later was elected to the U.S. Senate. As a senator, he was reelected several times and eventually became Senate Majority Leader before finally becoming vice president. Though mostly forgotten today, in the first few decades of the 20th century, he was an important figure in U.S. politics. He made the cover of Time Magazine three times! In the 1932 presidential election, the Hoover-Curtis ticket lost to FDR, and Curtis was out of a job. He retired from politics and returned to practicing law. Curtis died in 1936.

Elaine Cohen, Pembroke Pines