Did Kamala Harris put her hand on her purse when she was sworn in as vice president? No, that's not true: Her hand was on a Bible. In fact, she used two Bibles in the ceremony -- one atop the other -- as can clearly be seen in photographs.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on January 21, 2021. The post included an image of Harris taking the oath of office, along with a note that read:
Notice her purse is sitting on top of the Bible and her left hand is on top of her purse. Wonder why she can't touch the Bible?
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Jan 22 16:17:43 2021 UTC)
The post's image shows a zipper on the side of one of the Bibles that Harris used, perhaps creating the impression that the object was a purse. It wasn't. Other photographs of the ceremony clearly show her hand was on a Bible, as can be seen here and here.
In fact, Harris used two Bibles in the ceremony. NPR reported that one of the Bibles belonged to a family friend; the other belonged to the late Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice.
Harris is the first woman and first person of color to hold the office of the vice presidency. She was sworn in January 20, 2021.
