Vice President Kamala Harris walks onstage to speak at the kickoff for the Reproductive Freedoms Tour, Monday, January 22, 2024, at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 7 in Big Bend, Wisconsin. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
THE IMAGES ARE HISTORIC: Vice President Kamala Harris launching her Reproductive Freedoms Tour in Big Bend, Wisc.; disembarking from Air Force Two upon arrival in Germany for the Munich Security Conference; meeting with Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; and greeting U.S. airmen at Luke Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Ariz.
Documenting everyday moments on the daily schedule of a U.S. Vice President, the historic images were captured by Lawrence Jackson, who has also photographed Harris viewing a Diego Rivera mural with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the National Palace in Mexico City and in her office in the West Wing of the White House where a painting by Alma Thomas is on display behind her desk.
A veteran of the Obama Administration, who also photographed the Biden-Harris campaign, Lawrence was named vice presidential photographer in January 2021. He serves in the Office of the Vice President.
Over the past nearly four years, Jackson—along with a team of White House photographers, led by Chief Official White House Photographer Adam Schultz, that focuses on President Biden—has trained his lens on Harris as she grew into the role of Vice President and represented the Biden Administration in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world.
On Sunday, President Biden announced he was withdrawing from the 2024 race and endorsed Harris for President, bringing heightened attention to her record, performance, image, and ability to win the White House at the top of the ticket.
Vice President Kamala Harris holds an on-phone and in-person meeting in preparation for her trip to Singapore Wednesday, August 4, 2021, in her West Wing Office of the White House in her West Wing Office of the White House, with “White Daisies Rhapsody” (1973) by Alma Thomas hanging in the background. The painting is on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. | Official White House Photo by Erin Scott
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a Build Back Better virtual event with mayors from across the country Thursday, October 28, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
A FEW MONTHS AGO, in April, when Harris was at the U.S. Capitol, Jackson photographed her walking by a portrait of Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.), the first woman to seek the Democratic nomination for President and the first Black person to seek the Presidential nomination of a major political party (1972). The painting by Los Angeles artist Kadir Nelson is displayed on the first floor of the Capitol in the House Connecting Corridor.
Jackson posted the photo on Instagram and shared what was going through his mind at the time: “@vp was headed to her motorcade, after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio’s address to congress, when I saw that she would be walking by the portrait of Shirley Chisholm. I run ahead and line up for the shot. @vp often talks about the women leaders who have come before “whose broad shoulders I stand on”. #shirleychisholm was definitely one of those leaders. yes it’s a bit cliched but I thought “take the picture and decide later”. @vp saw what I was doing and gave me a wry smile as she walked by the portrait. Ninety-nine percent of the time @vp pays no attention to me.”
“When I saw that she would be walking by the portrait of Shirley Chisholm. I run ahead and line up for the shot. @vp often talks about the women leaders who have come before “whose broad shoulders I stand on. #shirleychisholm was definitely one of those leaders.” — Lawrence Jackson
Jackson’s photos are largely documentary. Instances of artistry also emerge in the composition and perspective of some of the images. Plenty of symbolism is also present—whether Harris is captured striding past Shirley Chisholm’s portrait; speaking at a reproductive freedom event with the words “Trust Women” serving as a backdrop; appearing in the White House Rose Garden with the great-grand daughter of Ida B. Wells, both women pictured in profile in a black-and-white image; or walking into the East Room of the White House for an official event standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton.
Nearly every stage of Harris’s career has been historic. Before she became the first woman, first Black person, and first Asian American to serve as Vice President of the United States, Harris was breaking barriers in California with her historic elections as district attorney in San Francisco (2003) and attorney general of California (2010). When she won her seat in the U.S. Senate in 2016, representing California, she was only the second Black woman in history to join the upper chamber of Congress.
Harris said she is working to became the official Presidential nominee of the Democratic party. She is racking up endorsements, donations, and volunteers as well as the required pledged delegates. In the days and months to come, in the lead up to the November election, White House and campaign images of Harris will take on greater relevance and historic significance. There is a good chance Jackson and his colleagues are documenting the first female President of the United States. CT
Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a reception for new members of congress, Tuesday, January 24, 2023, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Erin Scott
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a concert in celebration of Juneteenth, Monday, June 10, 2024, on the South Lawn of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.S. Army Major General Trevor J. Bredenkamp walk to the plaza at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to lay a wreath on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2024, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a roundtable conversation at a “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour stop at Fountain Street Church, Thursday, February 22, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Seated alongside Vice President Harris are Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), left, and Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.). | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris poses for a photo with Della Marie Levi, owner of Della Soul Records, the first Black woman-owned vinyl record store in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Thursday, February 22, 2024. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, hours after receiving news of Navalny’s death in a Russian prison, Friday, February 16, 2024, during the Munich Security Conference at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two at Munich International Airport, Thursday, February 15, 2024, as she arrives for the Munich Security Conference. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Minister President of Bavaria Markus Soder, State Minister Dr. Florian Herrmann, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, and U.S. Consul General Timothy Liston, Thursday, February 15, 2024, as she arrives at Munich International Airport in Munich, Germany. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
White House and Administration staff listen as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks before posing for a photo in honor of Black History Month, Friday, February 9, 2024, on the Navy Steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Oliver Contreras Cruz
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff pose for a photo with a guest at a reception in honor of Black History Month, Tuesday, February 6, 2024, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Polly Irungu
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the kickoff for the Reproductive Freedoms Tour, Monday, January 22, 2024, at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 7 in Big Bend, Wisconsin. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris poses for a photo with South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley during a surprise stop at Colonial Life Arena, Monday, January 15, 2024, in Columbia, South Carolina. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk through the Palm Room of the White House, Tuesday, October 10, 2023. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris listen to Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting with national security advisers, Tuesday, October 10, 2023, in the White House Situation Room. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
President Joe Biden and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) look on as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks announcing the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Friday, September 22, 2023 in the White House Rose Garden. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers welcoming remarks at a Juneteenth concert on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
Warriors fan Vice President Kamala Harris and Lakers fan Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff pose in NBA jerseys, Monday, May 1, 2023, in the Vice President’s West Wing Office at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Munich Security Conference, Saturday, February 18, 2023, at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in the Senate procession to the House Chamber for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address, Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Jana Curtis, founder of Get the Lead Out Riverwards after delivering remarks on water infrastructure investment, Friday, February 3, 2023, at the Belmont Water Treatment Plant in Philadelphia. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris arrive to the East Room for an event marking the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, Thursday, February 2, 2023, at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Luke Air Force Base airmen, Thursday, January 19, 2023, in Maricopa County, Arizona. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two at Luke Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Arizona, Thursday, January 19, 2023, en route to Los Angeles International Airport. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris depart the East Room following an event with the Golden State Warriors to celebrate the team’s 2022 NBA championship, Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
President Joe Biden talks with Vice President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office, Thursday, January 5, 2023, after delivering remarks on immigration. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary Antony Blinken, and Cherelle Griner speak on the phone with WNBA star Brittney Griner after the administration negotiated her release from a Russian prison, Thursday, December 8, 2022, in the Oval Office. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff delivers remarks at an event celebrating the Jewish New Year Friday, September 30, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
Vice President Kamala Harris shows Gianna Floyd, daughter of George Floyd, the executive order that President Joe Biden signed during an event on federal policing reforms, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Former President Barack Obama hugs Vice President Kamala Harris during an Affordable Care Act event with President Joe Biden, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Vice President Kamala Harris and Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, look on as President Joe Biden speaks after signing H.R. 55, the “Emmett Till Antilynching Act” in the White House Rose Garden, Wednesday, March 29, 2022. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Blue Room of the White House, after President Biden officially nominated her to the Supreme Court, Friday, February 25, 2022. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
President Joe Biden presents copies of his State of the Union address to Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before delivering the address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. | Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff make phone calls to military troops in Kuwait and San Diego to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving from the Vice President’s Residence, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021, in Washington, D.C. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday, November 18, 2021, on the balcony of the Vice President’s Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Tribal Nations Summit Tuesday, November 16, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris introduces her bilateral team to French President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris waits backstage before delivering remarks, Saturday, July 3, 2021, at the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris talk Friday, July 2, 2021, as they walk through the Rose Garden of the White House. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris salutes U.S. Marines as she disembarks Marine Two at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Friday, June 25, 2021, to begin her trip to El Paso, Texas. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris tours the Diego Rivera mural “The History of Mexico” with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, at the National Palace in Mexico City. | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
Vice President Kamala Harris greets South Korean President Moon Jae-in Friday, May 21, 2021, in the Vice President’s Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. | Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith
FIND MORE about Lawrence Jackson on his website
FIND MORE about the featured White House photographers on Instagram: Lawrence Jackson @jackimages, Adam Schultz @schultzinit, Cameron Smith @cameronsmithphoto, Erin Scott @erinscottphoto, and Polly Irungu @pollyirungu, a photo editor in the Vice President’s office
FIND MORE about “Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisholm at 100” at the Museum of the City of New York, the first major museum exhibition dedicated to the political legend on Culture Type
BOOKSHELF
In 2019, Lawrence Jackson published “Yes We Did: Photos and Behind-the-Scenes Stories Celebrating Our First African American President,” a volume dedicated to images of President Barack Obama. Before she launched her 2020 presidential campaign, Kamala Harris published a memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.” She also wrote “Superheroes Are Everywhere,” a children’s book with illustrations by Mechal Renee RoeHer. Harris’s historic rise has also engendered children’s books by her niece Meena Harris (“Ambitious Girl”), and authors Nikki Grimes and Laura Freeman (“Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice”). Also consider “Kamala Harris” from the Little People, Big Dreams series. There are also comics about Harris from Tidalwave Productions, including “Female Force: Kamala Harris” and “Political Power: Madam Vice President.”
