Early life and career of Barack Obama: Difference between revisions
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Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending [[Punahou School]], a private college preparatory school, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979.<ref>Obama writes: "For my grandparents, my admission into Punahou Academy heralded the start of something grand, an elevation in the family status that they took great pains to let everyone know." Obama (1995), Chapters 3 and 4. See also: {{cite news | first=Fred | last=Mann | title=Kansas Roots Show in Obama, Say Relatives | date=February 2, 2008 | url=http://www.kansas.com/news/state/story/299520.html work=Wichita Eagle | accessdate=2008-02-11}}</ref> Obama's mother, Ann, died of [[ovarian cancer]] and [[uterine cancer]] a few months after the publication of his 1995 [[memoir]], ''[[Dreams from My Father]]''.<ref>Obama (1995), Preface to the 2004 Edition, p. xi. See also: {{cite news | first=Julia | last=Suryakusuma | title=Obama for President... of Indonesia | date=November 29, 2006 | work=Jakarta Post | url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20061129.F03 | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> |
Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending [[Punahou School]], a private college preparatory school, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979.<ref>Obama writes: "For my grandparents, my admission into Punahou Academy heralded the start of something grand, an elevation in the family status that they took great pains to let everyone know." Obama (1995), Chapters 3 and 4. See also: {{cite news | first=Fred | last=Mann | title=Kansas Roots Show in Obama, Say Relatives | date=February 2, 2008 | url=http://www.kansas.com/news/state/story/299520.html work=Wichita Eagle | accessdate=2008-02-11}}</ref> Obama's mother, Ann, died of [[ovarian cancer]] and [[uterine cancer]] a few months after the publication of his 1995 [[memoir]], ''[[Dreams from My Father]]''.<ref>Obama (1995), Preface to the 2004 Edition, p. xi. See also: {{cite news | first=Julia | last=Suryakusuma | title=Obama for President... of Indonesia | date=November 29, 2006 | work=Jakarta Post | url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20061129.F03 | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> |
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[[Image:BarackObamaCertificationOfLiveBirthHawaii.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Obama's birth certificate]] |
[[Image:BarackObamaCertificationOfLiveBirthHawaii.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Obama's "birth certificate"]] |
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In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's [[American middle class|middle class]] family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.<ref name=ObamaSr /> Of his early childhood, Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me — that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk — barely registered in my mind."<ref>Obama (1995), pp. 9–10.</ref> The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his [[multiracial]] heritage.<ref>Obama (1995), Chapters 4 and 5. See also: {{cite news | first=Richard A | last=Serrano | title=Obama's Peers Didn't See His Angst | format=paid archive | date=March 11, 2007 | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1230439131.html?dids=1230439131:1230439131&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+11%2C+2007&author=Richard+A.+Serrano&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.20&desc=THE+NATION | work=Los Angeles Times | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> He wrote that he used [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]], [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], and [[cocaine]] during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".<ref>{{cite news | title=Obama Gets Blunt with N.H. Students | date=November 21, 2007 | publisher=Boston Globe | url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/21/obama_gets_blunt_with_nh_students/ | work=Associated Press | accessdate=2008-01-04}} In ''Dreams from My Father'', Obama writes: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it." Obama (1995), pp. 93–94. For analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled."), see: {{cite news | first=Lois | last=Romano | title=Effect of Obama's Candor Remains to Be Seen | date=January 3, 2007 | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201359.html | work=Washington Post | accessdate=2008-01-04}} {{cite news | first=Katharine Q | last=Seelye | title=Obama Offers More Variations From the Norm | date=October 24, 2006 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DB173FF937A15753C1A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink | work=New York Times | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> Obama has said that it was a seriously misguided mistake. At the Saddleback Civil Presidential Forum Barack Obama identified his high-school drug use as his greatest moral failure.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/</ref> Obama has stated he has not used any illegal drugs since he was a teenager.<ref>Schoenburg, Bernard. [http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v03/n1786/a06.html "Frank Talk About Drug Use in Obama’s 'Open Book'"], [[The State Journal-Register]] via the Media Awareness Project (2003-11-16). Retrieved 2008-08-23.</ref> |
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's [[American middle class|middle class]] family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.<ref name=ObamaSr /> Of his early childhood, Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me — that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk — barely registered in my mind."<ref>Obama (1995), pp. 9–10.</ref> The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his [[multiracial]] heritage.<ref>Obama (1995), Chapters 4 and 5. See also: {{cite news | first=Richard A | last=Serrano | title=Obama's Peers Didn't See His Angst | format=paid archive | date=March 11, 2007 | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1230439131.html?dids=1230439131:1230439131&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+11%2C+2007&author=Richard+A.+Serrano&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.20&desc=THE+NATION | work=Los Angeles Times | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> He wrote that he used [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]], [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], and [[cocaine]] during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".<ref>{{cite news | title=Obama Gets Blunt with N.H. Students | date=November 21, 2007 | publisher=Boston Globe | url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/21/obama_gets_blunt_with_nh_students/ | work=Associated Press | accessdate=2008-01-04}} In ''Dreams from My Father'', Obama writes: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it." Obama (1995), pp. 93–94. For analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled."), see: {{cite news | first=Lois | last=Romano | title=Effect of Obama's Candor Remains to Be Seen | date=January 3, 2007 | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201359.html | work=Washington Post | accessdate=2008-01-04}} {{cite news | first=Katharine Q | last=Seelye | title=Obama Offers More Variations From the Norm | date=October 24, 2006 | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DB173FF937A15753C1A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink | work=New York Times | accessdate=2008-01-04}}</ref> Obama has said that it was a seriously misguided mistake. At the Saddleback Civil Presidential Forum Barack Obama identified his high-school drug use as his greatest moral failure.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/</ref> Obama has stated he has not used any illegal drugs since he was a teenager.<ref>Schoenburg, Bernard. [http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v03/n1786/a06.html "Frank Talk About Drug Use in Obama’s 'Open Book'"], [[The State Journal-Register]] via the Media Awareness Project (2003-11-16). Retrieved 2008-08-23.</ref> |
Revision as of 15:22, 30 November 2008
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Personal
Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois 44th President of the United States Tenure
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Barack Obama is the current President-elect of the United States. President-elect Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii[1] to Barack Obama, Sr. (1936–1982) (from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Siaya District, Nyanza Province, Kenya,[2] of Luo ethnicity) and Ann Dunham (1942–1995) (born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas).[3][4] On his mother's side he has a half-sister; on his father's side, Obama has two half-sisters and five surviving half-brothers.[5]
Education at a glance
School | Years | Location | Final degree | Notes |
Noelani Elementary School | Kindergarten | Honolulu, Hawaii | ||
St. Francis Assisi Catholic | First through third grade | Jakarta, Indonesia | ||
State Elementary School Menteng 01 | Fourth grade | Jakarta, Indonesia | ||
Punahou School | Fifth through 12th grade | Honolulu, Hawaii | High school diploma | |
Occidental College | Freshman and sophomore years | Los Angeles, California | Transferred to Columbia | |
Columbia College | Junior and senior years | New York, New York | B.A. | Political science major with international relations focus |
Harvard Law School | Three-year program | Cambridge, Massachusetts | J.D. magna cum laude | President, Harvard Law Review |
Childhood through high school
Throughout his early years, Obama was known at home and at school as "Barry."[6] Obama's parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.[7] They separated when he was two years old and later divorced.[8] His father received a Masters degree in Economics from Harvard University, then returned to Kenya, where he became a finance minister before dying in an automobile accident in 1982.[9][10] His mother married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967.[11] Obama attended kindergarten at Noelani Elementary School in the Manoa neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii.[12] Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, from ages 6 to 10, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.
During his time in Indonesia, he first attended St. Francis Assisi Catholic school for almost three years.[13][14] When his family moved to a new neighborhood, Menteng,[15] he attended the secular, government-run SDN Menteng 1 school for his fourth year.[15][13][16][17][18] Obama's stepfather was "not religious", and "never went to prayer services except for big communal events", according to Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.[16] When Obama was in third grade he wrote an essay saying that he wanted to become president. His teacher later told the Chicago Tribune that she was not sure what country he wanted to become president of but that he said that his reason for becoming president was that he wanted to make everybody happy.[6]
Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979.[19] Obama's mother, Ann, died of ovarian cancer and uterine cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father.[20]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/BarackObamaCertificationOfLiveBirthHawaii.jpg/150px-BarackObamaCertificationOfLiveBirthHawaii.jpg)
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's middle class family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.[10] Of his early childhood, Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me — that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk — barely registered in my mind."[21] The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[22] He wrote that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".[23] Obama has said that it was a seriously misguided mistake. At the Saddleback Civil Presidential Forum Barack Obama identified his high-school drug use as his greatest moral failure.[24] Obama has stated he has not used any illegal drugs since he was a teenager.[25]
Some of his fellow students at Punahou School later told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that Obama was mature for his age as a high school student and that he sometimes attended parties and other events in order to associate with African American college students and military service people. Reflecting later on his formative years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."[26]
College and living in New York City
Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[27] He then transferred to Columbia College in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[28] In 1982, Obama's father, Barack Obama, Sr., died in Kenya. Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group.[29][30]
Early years as a community organizer in Chicago
After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago where he was hired as a community organizer. "What really inspired me," Obama told Ryan Lizza, a writer for The New Republic in 2007, "was the civil rights movement. And if you asked me who my role model was at that time, it would probably be Bob Moses, the famous SNCC [ Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ] organizer. … Those were the folks I was really inspired by—the John Lewises, the Bob Moseses, the Fannie Lou Hamers, the Ella Bakers."[31]
Before Obama came, the organization was made up of three white men (two of them Jewish), which was only working with Catholic parishes up to that point. Yet the black pastors looked on them with suspicion and sometimes disdain as outsiders. The organization wanted a young black man to help the group ally with black churches in the South Side. He worked for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[29][32][31] Around this time Obama joined the Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominantly black church on the southeast side.[33]
The job focused on helping poor blacks agitate with the city government to get benefits for their communities such as job banks and asbestos removal. The small organization taught him a style of organizing developed by Saul Alinsky, a radical University of Chicago-trained social scientist. Alinsky's method centers on the idea of "agitation" — encouraging people to get angry enough about the horrible state of their lives in order to get them to take action. Alinsky had described the organizer's role as an effort to "rub raw the sores of discontent." According to Mike Kruglik, a fellow organizer at that time, Obama was the best student he had ever had in his 10 years of training organizers. In 2007, Ryan Lizza, a journalist writing for The New Republic, described Kruglik's assessment of Obama: "He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards. […] [H]e could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better."[31]
Obama came to believe that although Alinsky's concentration on self-interest as a motivating factor is a "critical" insight, he told Lizza, "Alinsky understated the degree to which people's hopes and dreams and their ideals and their values were just as important in organizing as people's self-interest."[31]
During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[34] Obama was modest about the accomplishment of these years. "[F]or the most part I would say I wasn’t wildly successful," Obama said in a 2007 interview. "The victories that we achieved were extraordinarily modest: you know, getting a job-training site set up or getting an after-school program for young people put in place."[35]
Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[36] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks then Kenya for five weeks where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[37]
Harvard Law School
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Hls_langdell_hall.jpeg/220px-Hls_langdell_hall.jpeg)
Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the law review based on his grades and a writing competition.[38] In his second year he was elected president of the law review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.[39] Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[39] He got himself elected by convincing a crucial swing bloc of conservatives that he would protect their self-interests if they supported him. Building up that trust was done with the same kind of long listening sessions he had used in the poor neighborhoods of South Side, Chicago. Richard Epstein, who later taught at the University of Chicago Law School when Obama later taught there, said Obama was elected editor "because people on the other side believed he would give them a fair shake."[31]
While in law school he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989, where he met his wife, Michelle, and where Newton N. Minow was a managing partner. Minow later would introduce Obama to some of Chicago's top business leaders.[35] In the summer of 1990 he worked at Hopkins & Sutter.[40] Also during his law school years, Obama spent eight days in Los Angeles taking a national training course on Alinsky methods of organizing.[31] He graduated with a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago.[38]
Settling down in Chicago
The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.[41] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.[41] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid-1995.[41]
He married Michelle Robinson in 1992[42] and settled down with her in Hyde Park, a liberal, integrated, middle-class Chicago neighborhood with a history of electing reform-minded politicians independent of the Daley political machine.[43] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998; their second, Natasha (known as Sasha), in 2001.[44]
One effect of the marriage was to bring Obama closer to other politically influential Chicagoans. One of Michelle's best friends was Jesse Jackson's daughter, Sanita, later the godmother of the Obamas' first child. Michelle herself had worked as an aide to Mayor Richard M. Daley. Marty Nesbitt, a young, successful black businessman (who played basketball with Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson), became Obama's best friend and introduced him to other African-American business people. Before the marriage, according to Craig, Obama talked about his political ambitions, even saying that he might run for president someday.[35]
Project Vote
Obama directed Illinois Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive, officially nonpartisan, that helped Carol Moseley Braun become the first black woman ever elected to the Senate.[31] He headed up a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers that achieved its goal of 400,000 registered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[45][46][47][48] Although fundraising was not required for the position when Obama was recruited for the job, he started an active campaign to raise money for the project. According to Sandy Newman, who founded Project Vote, Obama "raised more money than any of our state directors had ever done. He did a great job of enlisting a broad spectrum of organizations and people, including many who did not get along well with one another."[48]
The fundraising brought Obama into contact with the wealthy, liberal elite of Chicago, some of whom became supporters in his future political career. Through one of them he met David Axelrod, who later headed Obama's campaign for president.[35] The fundraising committee was chaired by John Schmidt, a white former chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, and John W. Rogers Jr., a young black money manager and founder of Ariel Capital Management.[48] Obama also met much of the city's black political leadership, although he didn't always get along with the older politicians, with friction sometimes developing over Obama's reluctance to spend money and his insistence on results.[35] "He really did it, and he let other people take all the credit", Schmidt later said. "The people standing up at the press conferences were Jesse Jackson and Bobby Rush and I don't know who else. Barack was off to the side and only the people who were close to it knew he had done all the work."[48]
Career 1992-1996
Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, as a Lecturer for four years (1992–1996), and as a Senior Lecturer for eight years (1996–2004).[49] During this time he taught courses in due process and equal protection, voting rights, and racism and law. He published no legal scholarship, and turned down tenured positions, but served eight years in the Illinois Senate during his twelve years at the university.[50]
In 1993 Obama joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.[29][51] The firm was well-known among influential Chicago liberals and leaders of the black community, and the firm's Judson H. Miner, who met with Obama to recruit him before Obama's 1991 graduation from law school, had been counsel to former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, although the law firm often clashed with the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley. The 29-year-old law student made it clear in his initial interview with Miner that he was more interested in joining the firm to learn about Chicago politics than to practice law.[43] During the four years Obama worked as a full time lawyer at the firm, he was involved in 30 cases and accrued 3,723 billable hours.[52]
Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.[29][53] He served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund Obama's DCP, from 1993–2002, and served on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation from 1994–2002.[29] Membership on the Joyce and Wood foundation boards, which gave out tens of millions of dollars to various local organizations while Obama was a member, helped Obama get to know and be known by influential liberal groups and cultivate a network of community activists that later supported his political career.[43] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995–2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995–1999.[29] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.[29]
In 1995, Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, died. In that year Obama also announced his candidacy for a seat in the Illinois state Senate and attended Louis Farrakhan's Million Man March in Washington DC.[54]
See also
References
- ^ State declares Obama birth certificate genuine
- ^ Ancestry of Barack Obama
- ^ Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Endorses Barack Obama - January 29, 2008 - Obama Press Office via businesswire via reuters.com
- ^ "Meet Barack". BarackObama.com. Retrieved 2008-01-04. "Saving the World in His Spare Time". The Economist. January 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-02. See also: Obama (1995), Chapter 1.
- ^ Sheridan, Michael (January 28, 2007). "Secrets of Obama Family Unlocked". Sunday Times (UK). Retrieved 2008-01-04.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b Scharnberg, Kirsten (March 25, 2007). "The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama's Youth". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Obama (1995), pp. 9–10. For book excerpts, see "Barack Obama: Creation of Tales". East African. November 1, 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ Obama (1995), pp. 125–126. See also: Jones, Tim (March 27, 2007). "Obama's Mom: Not Just a Girl from Kansas". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ Butterfield, Fox (February 6, 1990). "First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. See also: Kantor, Jodi (January 28, 2007). "In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ a b Merida, Kevin (December 14, 2007). "The Ghost of a Father". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-01-04. See also: Ochieng, Philip. "From Home Squared to the US Senate: How Barack Obama Was Lost and Found". East African. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
{{cite news}}
: Text "dateNovember 1, 2004" ignored (help) Obama (1995), pp. 5–11 and 62–71. In August 2006, Obama flew his wife and two daughters from Chicago to join him in a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya. Gnecchi, Nico (August 27, 2006). "Obama Receives Hero's Welcome at His Family's Ancestral Village in Kenya". Voice of America. Retrieved 2008-01-04. See also: Cose, Ellis (September 11, 2006). "Walking the World Stage". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-01-04. Wrong, Michela (September 11, 2006). "Africa: Kenya Glimpses a New Kind of Hero". New Statesman. Retrieved 2008-01-04. - ^ Obama's stepfather and Ann Dunham divorced in the late 1970s, and he died of a liver ailment in 1987. Fornek, Scott (September 9, 2007). "Lolo Soetoro". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. They had one daughter together, Maya Soetoro, Obama's half-sister. On his father's side, Obama has two half-sisters and five surviving half-brothers. Sheridan, Michael (January 28, 2007). "Secrets of Obama Family Unlocked". Sunday Times (UK). Retrieved 2008-01-04.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) See also: Obama (1995), Chapter 2 and Chapters 15–19 (Part 3: Kenya). - ^ Trifonovitch, Kelli Abe (October 2008). "Being local, Barry and Bryan". Hawaii Business Magazine. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
Hoover, Will (November 9, 2008). "Obama's Hawaii boyhood homes drawing gawkers". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
Nakaso, Dan (September 12, 2008). "Obama's mother's work focus of UH seminar". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 2008-11-26. - ^ a b Barker, Kim (March 25, 2007). "Obama Madrassa Myth Debunked". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ Staff writer (2007-01-25). "Obama debunks claim about Islamic school". Associated Press. MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
- ^ a b Williamson, Lucy (2008-19-20). "Jakarta classmates recall 'Barry' Obama". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ a b Watson, Paul (2007-03-16). "Islam an unknown factor in Obama bid". Balitmore Sun. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
- ^ Scharnberg, Kirsten (March 25, 2007). "The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama's Youth". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) Anderton, Trish (June 2007). "Obama's Jakarta Trail". Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2008-01-04. For Obama's published accounts of his schooling in Indonesia, see: Obama (1995), p. 154, and Obama (2006), p. 274. - ^ Citing comments made by Indonesia's ambassador to the U.S., Time reported in December 2007 that Obama "still speaks passable Bahasa, the language spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia." Newton-Small, Jay (December 18, 2007). "Obama's Foreign-Policy Problem". Time. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
- ^ Obama writes: "For my grandparents, my admission into Punahou Academy heralded the start of something grand, an elevation in the family status that they took great pains to let everyone know." Obama (1995), Chapters 3 and 4. See also: Mann, Fred (February 2, 2008). work=Wichita Eagle "Kansas Roots Show in Obama, Say Relatives". Retrieved 2008-02-11.
{{cite news}}
: Check|url=
value (help); Missing pipe in:|url=
(help) - ^ Obama (1995), Preface to the 2004 Edition, p. xi. See also: Suryakusuma, Julia (November 29, 2006). "Obama for President... of Indonesia". Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ Obama (1995), pp. 9–10.
- ^ Obama (1995), Chapters 4 and 5. See also: Serrano, Richard A (March 11, 2007). "Obama's Peers Didn't See His Angst" (paid archive). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ "Obama Gets Blunt with N.H. Students". Associated Press. Boston Globe. November 21, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-04. In Dreams from My Father, Obama writes: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it." Obama (1995), pp. 93–94. For analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled."), see: Romano, Lois (January 3, 2007). "Effect of Obama's Candor Remains to Be Seen". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-01-04. Seelye, Katharine Q (October 24, 2006). "Obama Offers More Variations From the Norm". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/
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- ^ Reyes, B. J (February 8, 2007). "Punahou Left Lasting Impression on Obama". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-01-04. "As a teenager, Obama went to parties and sometimes sought out gatherings on military bases or at the University of Hawaii that were mostly attended by blacks."
- ^ "Oxy Remembers "Barry" Obama '83". Occidental College. January 29, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ Boss-Bicak, Shira (January 2005). "Barack Obama '83". Columbia College Today. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chassie, Karen (ed.) (2007). Who's Who in America, 2008. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. p. p. 3468. ISBN 9780837970110. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
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- ^ a b c d e f g Lizza, Ryan (2007-03-19). "The Agitator: Barack Obama's unlikely political education" (alternate link). New Republic. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- ^ Secter, Bob; McCormick, John (2007-03-30). "Portrait of a pragmatist". Chicago Tribune. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
{{cite news}}
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- ^ Matchan, Linda (1990-02-15). "A Law Review breakthrough" (paid archive). The Boston Globe. p. 29. Retrieved 2008-06-06. Corr, John (1990-02-27). "From mean streets to hallowed halls" (paid archive). The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. C01. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ a b c d e Lizza, Ryan, "Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama", The New Yorker, July 21, 2008, retrieved July 16, 2008
- ^ Obama, Barack (1988). "Why organize? Problems and promise in the inner city". Illinois Issues. 14 (8–9): 40–42.
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ignored (help) reprinted in: Knoepfle, Peg (ed.) (1990). After Alinsky: community organizing in Illinois. Springfield, IL: Sangamon State University. pp. pp. 35–40. ISBN 0962087335.{{cite book}}
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has extra text (help) Tayler, Letta; Herbert, Keith (2008-03-02). "Obama forged path as Chicago community organizer". Newsday. p. A06. Retrieved 2008-06-06.{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Obama (1995), pp. 299–437.
- ^ a b Levenson, Michael; Saltzman, Jonathan (2007-01-28). "At Harvard Law, a unifying voice". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Kantor, Jodi (2007-01-28). "In law school, Obama found political voice". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Kodama, Marie C (2007-01-19). "Obama left mark on HLS". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Mundy, Liza (2007-08-12). "A series of fortunate events". The Washington Post. p. W10. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Heilemann, John (October 22, 2007). "When they were young". New York. 40 (37): 32–7, 132–3. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Mendell (2007), pp. 80–92. - ^ a b Butterfield, Fox (1990-02-06). "First black elected to head Harvard's Law Review". The New York Times. p. A20. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Ybarra, Michael J (1990-02-07). "Activist in Chicago now heads Harvard Law Review" (paid archive). Chicago Tribune. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Matchan, Linda (1990-02-15). "A Law Review breakthrough" (paid archive). The Boston Globe. p. 29. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Corr, John (1990-02-27). "From mean streets to hallowed halls" (paid archive). The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. C01. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Drummond, Tammerlin (1990-03-12). "Barack Obama's Law; Harvard Law Review's first black president plans a life of public service" (paid archive). Los Angeles Times. p. E1. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Pugh, Allison J. (Associated Press) (1990-04-18). "Law Review's first black president aims to help poor" (paid archive). The Miami Herald. p. C01. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Aguilar, Louis (1990-07-11). "Survey: Law firms slow to add minority partners" (paid archive). Chicago Tribune. p. 1 (Business). Retrieved 2008-06-15.
Barack Obama, a summer associate at Hopkins & Sutter in Chicago
- ^ a b c Scott, Janny (2008-05-18). "The story of Obama, written by Obama". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Obama (1995), pp. xiii–xvii.
- ^ Fornek, Scott (October 3, 2007). "Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
- ^ a b c Becker, Jo and Drew, Christopher, "Pragmatic politics, forged on the South Side", The New York Times, May 11, 2008, retrieved July 16, 2008
- ^ Springen, Karen and Jonathan Darman (2007-01-29). "Ground Support". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
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(help) - ^ White, Jesse (ed.) (2000). Illinois Blue Book, 2000, Millennium ed. Springfield, IL: Illinois Secretary of State. p. p. 83. OCLC 43923973. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
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has extra text (help) - ^ Anderson, Veronica (1993). "40 under Forty: Barack Obama, Director, Illinois Project Vote". Crain's Chicago Business. 16 (39): 43.
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ignored (help) - ^ Reynolds, Gretchen (1993-01-01). "Vote of Confidence". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
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(help) - ^ a b c d Slevin, Peter, "For Obama, a Handsome Payoff in Political Gambles: Presidential Hopeful Has Friends, Successes and Precious Few Battle Scars", article, The Washington Post, November 13, 2007, page A3, retrieved July 18, 2008
- ^ University of Chicago Law School (2008-03-27). "Statement regarding Barack Obama". University of Chicago Law School. Retrieved 2008-06-10. Miller, Joe (2008-03-28). "Was Barack Obama really a constitutional law professor?". FactCheck.org. Retrieved 2008-06-10. Holan, Angie Drobnic (2008-03-07). "Obama's 20 years of experience". PolitiFact.com. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- ^ Jodi Cantor (2008-07-30). "Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
- ^ Robinson, Mike (Associated Press) (2007-02-10). "Obama got start in civil rights practice". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Pallasch, Abdon M (2007-12-17). "As lawyer, Obama was strong, silent type; He was 'smart, innovative, relentless,' and he mostly let other lawyers do the talking". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 4. Retrieved 2008-06-15. "People" (paid archive). Chicago Tribune. 1993-06-27. p. 9 (Business). Retrieved 2008-06-15. "Business appointments" (paid archive). Chicago-Sun-Times. 1993-07-05. p. 40. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Miner, Barnhill & Galland (2008). "About Us". Miner, Barnhill & Galland - Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved 2008-06-15. Obama (1995), pp. 438–439, Mendell (2007), pp. 104–106.
- ^ Morain, Dan (17 November 2008). "A look back on Obama's law years". The Los Angeles Times (printable). Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- ^ Public Allies (2008). "Fact Sheet on Public Allies' History with Senator Barack and Michelle Obama". Public Allies. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
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(help) - ^ De Zutter, Hank (8 December 1995). "What Makes Obama Run?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
External links
- MSNBC slideshow from childhood to party leader
- Family biography of Obama from The Washington Post