Harris was born in 1964 to two immigrant parents. Her mother, a native of India, was a scientist; her father, who came to the U.S. from Jamaica, is an emeritus economics professor at Stanford University. Her mother was originally supposed to enter an arranged marriage in India, but she scrapped that plan when she met Harris’ father at Berkeley, where the two were active in the civil rights movement.
Source: latimes.com – Los Angeles Times