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Early life and career of Barack Obama

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Barack Obama was born on August 4 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936–1982) (born in Nyangoma-Kogelo, Bondo District, Nyanza Province, Kenya, of Luo ethnicity) and Ann Dunham (1942 –1995) (born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas).

Childhood

File:Barack Obama Sr Jr.jpg
Obama (right) with his father in Hawaii.

Throughout his early years, Obama was commonly known at home and school as "Barry". Obama's parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student. They separated when he was two years old and later divorced. His father received a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Harvard University, then returned to Kenya, where he became a finance minister before dying in an automobile accident in 1982. His mother married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967. Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, from ages 6 to 10, where classes were taught in Bahasa, the language of Indonesia. He first attended St. Francis Assisi Catholic school for almost three years, where he received weekly lessons in that Christian faith although he was registered by his family as a Muslim, the stated religion of his stepfather. When his family moved to a new neighborhood, he attended the secular, government-run SDN Menteng 1 school for his fourth year, and received similar weekly lessons in Islam, the predominant religion of Indonesia. 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. 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. 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. 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.

In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's American 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. 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." The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. He wrote that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind". Some of his fellow students at Punahou later told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that Obama was mature for his age as a high school student and also that he sometimes attended parties 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."

College and early career

After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations. Obama received his Bachelor of Arts in 1983, then worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group before moving to Chicago to take a job as a community organizer. As the $13,000 a year Director of the Developing Communities Project, a faith-based community-organizing agency on Chicago's far south side, funded by an arm of the Catholic Church and overseen by a coalition of black churches, he worked with the low-income residents of Chicago's Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development to counteract the dislocation and massive unemployment caused by the closing and downsizing of southeast Chicago steel plants. Obama has called this experience "the best education I ever had" and cites it as one of the reasons he would make a good president.

Concluding that community organizing was not effective enough to solve major domestic problems, Obama applied to Harvard Law School, which he entered in 1988. In 1990 Obama was the first black in the 104-year history of the Harvard Law Review to be elected president of the independent student group responsible for the journal. Obama used his prominence on campus to draw attention to the issue of faculty diversity. He completed his J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1991. The president of the Harvard Law Review usually goes on to serve as a clerk for a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals for a year, and then as a clerk for an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Instead Obama returned to Chicago to direct a voter registration drive that resulted in voter registration in Chicago's 19 predominantly black wards outnumbering those in the city's 19 predominantly white ethnic wards for the first time in Chicago's history, and by a substantial 676,000 to 526,000. More than half a million blacks went to the polls in Chicago, and Chicago magazine hailed Obama as "a new political star".

As an associate attorney with Miner Barnhill & Galland (fka Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland, founded by attorney Allison Davis) from 1993 to 2003, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. While at the firm, Obama also worked on taxpayer-supported building rehabilitation loans for Rezmar Corp. owned by Daniel Mahru and the now-indicted Democratic Party fundraiser Tony Rezko, who has raised a total of over $250,000 for Obama's various political campaigns. Obama was a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

References

  1. "About Kenya / Nyanza / Bondo". information.go.ke. The Ministry of Information and Communications, Government of Kenya. Retrieved 2008-02-26. But Nyangoma-Kogelo was a part of Siaya District at the time of Barack Hussein Obama, Sr.'s birth.
  2. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Endorses Barack Obama - January 29, 2008 - Obama Press Office via businesswire via reuters.com
  3. "Meet Barack". BarackObama.com. Retrieved 2008-01-04. "Saving the World in His Spare Time". The Economist. January 12 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Obama (1995), Chapter 1.
  4. ^ Scharnberg, Kirsten (March 25 2007). "The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama's Youth". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. Obama (1995), pp. 9–10. For book excerpts, see "Barack Obama: Creation of Tales". East African. November 1 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Butterfield, Fox (February 6 1990). "First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Kantor, Jodi (January 28 2007). "In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Merida, Kevin (December 14 2007). "The Ghost of a Father". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Cose, Ellis (September 11 2006). "Walking the World Stage". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Wrong, Michela (September 11 2006). "Africa: Kenya Glimpses a New Kind of Hero". New Statesman. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) 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}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) See also: Obama (1995), Chapter 2 and Chapters 15–19 (Part 3: Kenya).
  10. msnbc: Obama debunks claim about Islamic school
  11. ^ Watson, Paul (2007-03-16). "Islam an unknown factor in Obama bid". Balitmore Sun. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  12. Barker, Kim (March 25 2007). "Obama Madrassa Myth Debunked". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. Scharnberg, Kirsten (March 25 2007). "The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama's Youth". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); 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.
  14. Citing comments made by Indonesia's ambassador to the U.S., TIME magazine 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. 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). "Kansas Roots Show in Obama, Say Relatives". Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 2008-02-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. Obama (1995), pp. 9–10.
  18. 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. "Obama Gets Blunt with N.H. Students". Associated Press. Boston Globe. November 21 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) 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. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Seelye, Katharine Q (October 24 2006). "Obama Offers More Variations From the Norm". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. Reyes, B. J (February 8 2007). "Punahou Left Lasting Impression on Obama". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. "Oxy Remembers "Barry" Obama '83". Occidental College. January 29 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Gordon, Larry (January 29 2007). "Occidental Recalls 'Barry' Obama" (paid archive). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. Boss-Bicak, Shira (January 2005). "Barack Obama '83: Is He the New Face of The Democratic Party?". Columbia College Today. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  23. Scott, Janny (October 30 2007). "Obama's Account of New York Years Often Differs from What Others Say". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Obama (1995), pp. 135–139.
  24. Slevin, Peter (March 25 2007). "For Clinton and Obama, a Common Ideological Touchstone". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. Wills, Christopher (February 24 2008). "Obama's first lessons in politics came as Chicago community organizer". Examiner.com. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. Secter, Bob (March 30 2007). "Portrait of a Pragmatist". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. Lizza, Ryan (March 19 2007). "The Agitator: Barack Obama's Unlikely Political Education" (alternate link). New Republic. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. Developing Communities Project, Inc.
  29. De Zutter, Hank (December 8 1995). "What makes Obama run?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. Wills, Christopher (February 24 2008). "Obama's first lessons in politics came as Chicago community organizer". Examiner.com. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. Bradford, Roderick J. "Hiring Barack Obama". Busted Halo.com. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  32. Levenson, Michael (January 28 2007). "At Harvard Law, a Unifying Voice". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) See also: Heilemann, John (October 22 2007). "When They Were Young". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. "What Harvard Taught Barack". 02138. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Missing pipe in: |first= (help)
  34. Kodama, Marie C (January 19 2007). "Obama Left Mark on HLS". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-03-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. Reynolds, Gretchen (January 1993). "Vote of Confidence". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. "Law Graduate Obama Got His Start in Civil Rights Practice". Associated Press. International Herald Tribune. February 19 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  37. "Obama and his Rezko ties". Associated Press. Chicago Sun-Times. April 23 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  38. Chris Fusco (March 16 2008). "Obama explains Rezko relationship to Sun-Times". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-03-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  39. Pallasch, Abdon M (February 12 2007). "Professor Obama was a Listener, Students Say". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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