Barack Obama Biography

U.S. President

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Name at birth: Barack Hussein Obama II
Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president in American history. Barack Obama has spoken often of his multicultural background: his father was from Kenya, his mother from Kansas, and they met at the University of Hawaii. After his parents divorced and his father returned to Africa, Obama stayed with his mother and was raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. He earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1983 and a law degree from Harvard in 1991. He then joined the Chicago law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which specialized in civil rights legislation. He also taught constitutional law for 12 years at the University of Chicago. Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, and then to the U.S. Senate in 2004, beating Republican candidate Alan Keyes.
Barack Obama shot to national fame after delivering a stirring keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic national convention. Obama ran for president in 2008, defeating a Democratic primary field that included New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady. He named Delaware senator Joe Biden to be his running mate at the Democratic Convention that August, and they defeated Republican nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin in the November general election. They took office on 20 January 2009. Barack Obama published the personal memoir Dreams from My Father in 1995, and published a second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006. The title of the latter book was also the title of his 2004 keynote speech, and both books won Grammys for best spoken word album. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." In 2011 he began his campaign for reelection in 2012, with a message on his official website reading "This campaign is just kicking off."
Extra credit: Barack Obama married the former Michelle Robinson in 1992. They have two daughters: Malia (b. 1998) and Sasha (b. 2001)... Barack Obama's father, also named Barack Obama, was black; his mother, Ann Dunham, was white. Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham (nicknamed "Toot"), died the day before Obama was elected in 2008... Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles before completing his undergraduate degree at Columbia... Obama's Senate website described him as "the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review" and "the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate." The previous African-American senators elected by popular vote were Edward Brooke (1967-79, from Massachusetts) and Carol Moseley-Braun (1993-99, from Illinois). Two other African-Americans were chosen by state senates to become U.S. Senators: Hiram Revels (1870-71, from Mississippi) and Blanche Bruce (1875-81, also from Mississippi)... His 2008 Grammy for The Audacity of Hope beat books by two former presidents: Bill Clinton's Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World and Jimmy Carter's Sunday Mornings in Plains: Bringing Peace to a Changing World.
Barack Obama joins Revolutionary War hero Crispus Attucks and singer Marian Anderson in our loop on Black History... He appears in our loops on Presidential Candidates 2012 and Presidential Candidates 2008.

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Barack Obama Biography

 The following biography was published in the 'Obama Blog' in a November 17, 2007 report.

Barack Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961 to Barack Hussein Obama of Kenya and Ann Dunham of Kansas. His parents met in Hawai'i and divorced when Barack was still young. Barack's father was from the Luo people of Kenya coming as a scholar to study in the United States. His mother was also an intellectual, an anthropologist by training.

His mother remarried to Indonesian Lolo Soetoro and the family moved to Indonesia when Barack was six years old. He has one sister, Maya, the daughter of Lolo and Ann. At the age of 10, Barack returned to live with his grandparents in Hawai'i.

He became a student at the prestigious Punahou School in Honolulu and after graduating studied at Occidental College in California before transferring to Columbia University in New York. He graduated with a B.A. in political science and specialization in international relations.

After working a short while with a corporation, Barack decided to follow his calling and took a low-paying job as a community organizer in Chicago, a city he had never lived in before.

After working a few years at community organizing, he entered Harvard Law School in 1988. Obama has stated that he believed that in order to effect real change, someone had to work at the political level. He became the first African American president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review and completed his J.D. degree with magna cum laude honors in 1991.

Rather than accept corporate job offers, Obama became a civil rights lawyer with Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He also was a lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1994 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

In the Illinois State Senate, Barack worked on ethics and health care reform, and sponsored legislation improving tax credits for low-income workers. He negotiated welfare reform, and better subsidies for child care. Obama also played the key role in legislation requiring videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling.

In 2004, during his bid for the U.S. Senate, Obama gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention.

As a U.S. Senator, Obama is a Veteran Affairs Committee member. He has championed legislation on redeployment of troops out of Iraq, increased government accountability, veteran's benefits and care, nuclear non-proliferation, energy independence and global warming action.

In 2007, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He has mounted an impressive grassroots campaign up to Nov. 2007.

He married his wife Michelle in 1992 and has two daughters, Malia and Sasha. In 2004, he published an autobiography, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. His second book, The Audacity of Hope, was published in 2006.

Barack lives with his family on Chicago's South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

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