President Obama

By Ella Beebe
Staff Writer

Barack Obama, Jr. was born on August 14, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He grew up in Hawaii then moved to Indonesia for a period of time, and  then moved back to Hawaii again. His mother’s name is Ann Dunham and his father is Barack Obama Sr. His parents married on February 2, 1961 and six months later President Obama was born. When President Obama was two his parents divorced. His father attended Harvard University and died in an accident in 1982 after only seeing President Obama once after the divorce. His mother remarried in 1966 and moved her family to Indonesia in 1967. There she had President Obama’s half sister, Maya Soetoro Ng.
   
When President Obama was ten his mother decided to send him to live with his grandparents in Hawaii. She later moved back with Maya. While President Obama lived with his grandparents he was enrolled in Punahou Academy and excelled in basketball. He graduated in 1979 as one of three black students in his entire class. Due to this, he became conscious of racism and would feel like something was wrong with him. He later saw that he was wrong.

After President Obama graduated, he studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. President Obama then transferred to Columbia University in New York. He graduated in 1985 with a degree in political science. He moved to Chicago in 1985 and worked in a community organizer group. He went to Harvard Law school in 1988 and in 1989 he met Michelle Robinson through her internship, they soon started dating. President Obama decided to move back to Chicago and be a civil rights lawyer. He also helped Bill Clinton with his 1992 campaign.

On October 3, 1992 President Obama and Michelle got married in Kenwood. Michelle had their first daughter, Malia, in 1998. In 2001 their second daughter, Sasha, was born.
President Obama first published his book, Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance in 1995. It is now published in ten languages.
In 1996 President Obama ran for Illinois state senator and won. As state senator he expanded the drafting of legislation on ethnic minorities for health care and early childhood education.

In 2000, President Obama was part of the U.S house of Representatives race. But he was unsuccessful. In 2004 he ran again and won. In 2001 he opposed Bush’s request to declare the Iraq war.

President Obama published another book in 2006. This book is titled The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

On January 20, 2009 President Obama was made the forty-fourth and first African-American president of the United States.

Works Cited

“Barack Obama Biography” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television,  2012. Web. 28 Sept. 2012 <http://www.biography.com/people/barack-obama-12782369?page=1>
Barak Obama. N.d. Photograph. Boomers Life. Web. 3 Oct. 2012. <http://www.boomerslife.org/barack_obama_early_days_career_bio.htm>.