There was a moment that struck Deborah Willis as she culled through more than 600 photographs of Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic 2024 run toward the presidency.
Willis needed a cover for the new book she was writing with former Los Angeles Times executive editor Kevin Merida and came across one from New York Times photographer, Erin Schaff.
It was a photo of Harris on the night she formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency at the Chicago convention. She walked onstage in a striking custom-made navy-blue pantsuit with a matching silk blouse by French fashion house Chloé.
Harris is basking in the crowd’s adulation, wearing a smile that borders on laughter. This is the kind of joy that Willis and Merida wanted to remind America about Harris’ campaign in “Kamala: The Historic, Joyful and Auspicious Sprint to the White House.”
Credit: Simon & Schuster
Credit: Simon & Schuster
“There’s an intimacy in this book in how we wanted to explore the way the people looked at the vice president. And the way she looked back them,” said Willis, a photo historian and photographer chair of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “But also, the way that she touched her heart when she said, ‘thank you.’ There are moments in this book that I thought represented joy in a way that we rarely see in a campaign.”
Released on Dec. 17, “Kamala: The Historic, Joyful and Auspicious Sprint to the White House” is one of the first books on Harris to publish after the 2024 election, which she lost to former President Donald Trump.
In 2008, following the election of Barack Obama, Willis and Merida teamed up for the first time to write, “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.”
Both books are similar in style and tone, with one key difference — Obama won.
“Of course it’s going to land differently with the outcome being a win. But it can’t be determined that the only value of the book is if she wins. We thought the book had value regardless,” Merida said. “There’s a worthiness to simply running a historic campaign. She’s the first Black woman and first South Asian woman to be the nominee of a major political party. She is the first Black woman and South Asian woman to be vice president. So, she’s bringing the history with her. Her story was already worth telling.”
The Obama book became a bestseller and ushered in a rush of postelection books about the country’s first Black president. It is still unclear how Harris’ story will be told in books.
“Ours is a photographic biography using the hook of this historic campaign to propel the story,” said Merida, who is also the co-author of the critically acclaimed “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas.” “It will stand alone for people who want to visually grasp what she’s been through to get to this point. Her career is certainly not over.”
Earlier this month, “Kamala Harris: Selections from the Official White House Photography,” was released with an introduction from Joy-Ann Reid.
Willis, who has earned both a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, said she and Merida entered the project believing Harris was going to win.
Credit: Courtesy Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Credit: Courtesy Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
“We wanted to tell a story about someone who had been in public service for most of her career and we believed in the storytelling aspect of a woman, a Black woman, who decided to make a difference in this country,” Willis said.
The photographic biography uses more than 200 photos to capture the Oakland-born Harris’ personal life and public rise from San Francisco’s district attorney to her presidential run.
Harris’ campaign was marked by the shortness of it. It was just 107 days, following the exit of President Joe Biden as the head of the Democratic Party’s ticket.
The new book also has a sense of urgency. Willis, Merida and their publisher Simon & Schuster wanted the book released after the election, but before Christmas.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The pair worked for seven weeks. Willis gathered the photographs and Merida, a contributing essayist to The Washington Post, wrote the essays.
“We knew we had a mission, and we had to do it,” Willis said. “We couldn’t ignore this moment.”
The photographers, including Atlanta-based shooters Tyler Mitchell and Sheila Pree Bright, represented a diverse range of racial and gender backgrounds.
“They were offering different stories based not only on recording the moment, but they were also excited about the concept of this new, imagined experience for all of us,” Willis said. “We were looking for images that had a sense of hope.”
Since her concession speech, where she told supporters at her alma mater, Howard University, not to despair her and to “never give up the fight for our democracy,” Harris has kept a noticeably low profile, appearing at just a handful of public events.
Willis and Merida noted that Harris supporters have also been quiet since the election. They hope the new book will help break that silence.
“Here’s something you can hold on to and share. Hopefully people will come to the book and it will be a stimulant for conversation, because it’s not a static kind of book,” Merida said. “This book is a catalyst to talk about the future and what happens next.”
Copies of “Kamala: The Historic, Joyful and Auspicious Sprint to the White House,” have been sent to Harris, but she has not commented publicly on it.
Become a member of UATL for more stories like this in our free newsletter and other membership benefits.
Follow UATL on Facebook, on X, TikTok and Instagram.
About the Author
