[ad_1]
“It’s striking,” said Ralph Richard Banks, a Stanford law professor who has written on race, gender, and family patterns. “In a way, they are on the border with different aspects of American families and their evolution.”
Some might say they reflect the current situation of Americans. Today, the number of couples who are in an interracial marriage is about one in six, a figure that, along with the number of interfaith marriages, has been increasing since 1967, according to Pew.
Ms Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, was brought up with Christian and Hindu practices, while her husband, who is white, grew up attending a Jewish summer camp. (At their wedding, Ms. Harris took part in the Jewish ritual of breaking a glass.)
She was in her forties when they got married; older than the median age of first marriage for women in this country, although the number continues to rise.
Mr Emhoff divorced, with two children from his previous marriage, making his children one in four who do not live with both biological parents, according to the Census Bureau. Mrs. Harris had no children. Many Americans don’t because fertility rates have hit an all-time high. She often said that being “Momala” to her stepchildren was the role “that mattered most” to her.
“People have more choices,” said Professor Banks. “It’s a societal change, but it’s often not as visible in positions of power.”
A big blended family
In her acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention in August, Ms. Harris spoke about her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, an immigrant who came to California as a teenager with dreams of becoming a cancer researcher, and raised Kamala and her sister, Maya, after she and their father divorced. For most of Ms. Harris’ life, it was the three of them. When Maya got pregnant at 17 with her daughter, Meena, she became four.
[ad_2]
Source link