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Learn About Barack Obama
Early Years
On 4 August 1961, Barack Obama was born in Hawaii to Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. His father, Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small Kenyan village to a goat herder who worked for the British. Ann was from a small town in Kansas where her father worked in oil rigs until he enlisted for World War II. Her parents later moved to Hawaii.
Ann was studying at the University of Hawaii where Barack’s father won a scholarship that allowed him to pursue his dreams in America. Once his studies were done, Barack’s father returned to Kenya and Ann brought up Barack on her own. They lived in Hawaii and later, moved to Indonesia for a few years. When Barack grew up, he moved to New York and graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
Ann taught Barack the importance of empathy and the value of service. In 1985, Barack took time off law school and put to use what his mother had taught him. He moved to Chicago in 1985 and sought to improve the living conditions of people in poor neighborhoods as community organizer for a church-based group. The attempts met with some success but Barack realized that to improve lives at the grassroots level, change had to take place in our laws and politics. So he went back to college and earned his law degree from Harvard in 1991 where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Barack Obama returned to Chicago to practice civil rights law and teach constitutional law. He served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years and in 2004, became the third African American since Reconstruction era to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Barack Obama’s life has been shaped by rich and varied experiences. He has grown up in different places among people with different ideas. This has lent uniqueness to his political journey. Barack believes in uniting people with a political purpose that prioritizes solving the challenges of everyday Americans. During his term in the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead with programs such as the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Senator Obama pushed the expansion of early childhood education. He also worked on requiring law enforcement officials to videotape interrogations and confessions in capital cases.
Barack Obama’s fresh ideas and politics do not settle for the lowest common denominator but tackles the challenges of a globalized world. Obama’s first law was passed by Republican Tom Coburn. The law made transparency easier and helped rebuild trust in government among the American people since now they could go online and see how and where every penny of the tax dollar is spent. Obama has championed ethics reform to root out corruption in Congress.
As Veterans’ Affairs Committee member, Senator Barack Obama has worked to help Illinois veterans receive their promised disability pay and is working to prepare for the return of thousands of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Obama is also aware of terrorist threats and the potential of weapons of mass destruction. He has visited Russia to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons from around the world. He’s working on economic reform and security from America’s addiction to oil. As candidate for president, Democratic nominee Barack Obama is also working on bringing together auto companies, unions farmers, businesses, and politicians of both parties to promote alternative fuels and higher fuel standards.
Barack Obama speaks about issues that will define America in the 21st century. But besides his accomplishments, Obama is proud and grateful for his family: wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6. They live in Chicago’s South Side and attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
To learn more about barrack obama, please go to www.barackobama.com
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