Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee and current U.S. Vice President, now finds herself at the center of a historical controversy that connects her directly to the dark legacy of slavery. The connection emerges from genealogical research conducted by Northern Irish historian Stephen McCracken. According to McCracken’s findings, Harris’s paternal ancestor, Hamilton Brown, was an ardent supporter of the slave trade in Jamaica, a stance that places the Vice President in a complex historical light.

Hamilton Brown, born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1776—the same year the United States declared its independence—later migrated to Jamaica, which at the time was a British colony. There, he became a prominent slave owner, managing over 120 slaves on his sugar plantations, pivotal to the island’s economy. Brown’s commitment to the institution of slavery was so profound that, even after the British Empire abolished slavery in 1832, he traveled back to Antrim to protest against the move.

The familial ties of Kamala Harris to Brown are through her father, Donald J. Harris, who hails from Jamaica, whereas her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in Madras, now Chennai, India. This lineage, rooted in a blend of Indian and Afro-Jamaican descent, presents a stark contrast to the troubling legacy left by Brown.

April 1965 Donald Harris cradles his daughter Kamala Harris

“Hamilton Brown was a notorious figure and not a nice fellow,” McCracken said to the Belfast Telegraph. “He had numerous slaves. In fact, Hamilton Brown routinely traveled back and forth to London to protest the abolishment of slavery.”

“I actually thought this was going to be a nice story, like (former US presidents) McKinley, Nixon, Jackson, Roosevelt, all of whom have links to Antrim, but it wasn’t,” McCracken wrote. “He had numerous slaves, in fact Hamilton Brown routinely traveled back and forth to London to protest the abolishment of slavery.”

A Reuters fact check revealed that Brown owned at least 124 slaves in 1817 and 121 in 1826. The United Kingdom abolished slavery in 1833, although former slaves remained tied to their former owners until 1838, according to the Belfast Telegraph. Brown later received £24,144, roughly equivalent to $3.7 million today, from the Slave Compensation Act of 1837. This act compensated former slave owners as part of the agreement to end slavery.

District Attorney Kamala Harris at Ruth Jackson Family, Friends & Community Day, March 2006

Harris’s lineage has been a point of discussion since she rose to national prominence. She was born in Oakland, California, to immigrant parents: her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, came from India, and her father, Donald Harris, is from Jamaica. Her mother was a breast cancer scientist and her father is a Stanford University economics professor. Harris often speaks about the influence of her diverse heritage on her life and career. Her mixed racial and cultural background has been both a subject of pride and, at times, scrutiny, especially from various perspectives.

The Belfast Telegraph pointed out that a significant number of African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans have English or Irish ancestry, a legacy rooted in the widespread sexual violence perpetrated by plantation owners against their female slaves.

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