Barack Obama
Barack Obama has made world-wide history. Elected as America’s first African-American President, Obama’s inauguration took place yesterday, and drew crowds from all over the world to witness this global event.
Obama’s policies and beliefs have developed from much of his own life experiences, from being raised by his single mother in Indonesia to working as a community organizer in Chicago, and his family life with wife Michelle and his two daughters are also influential of his political decisions.
FemaleFirst takes a look at the places and cities which have shaped Obama’s life so far, including his parents’ meeting at the University of Hawaii, his political career in New York, his love of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, and the move into his new home at the White House in Washington DC.
Chicago
It was in Chicago that Obama met his wife, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson. He moved there to work with a church-based group, as a community organizer to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods. During this time, Obama lived in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
During this period of his life, Obama traveled to Kenya for a short while to meet many of his paternal relatives for the first time.
Obama got a law degree from Harvard University, becoming the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years afterwards. He also served as a State Senator at the Illinois State Capitol.
Chicago is a particularly special place for Obama in other ways too, as he is a huge fan of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, and the U.S. Cellular Field is based in Chicago.
After meeting Michelle, the couple got married, and held their wedding reception at Chicago’s South Shore Cultural Center country club. They have two children together, Malia, aged 10, and Sasha, aged 7, and the family have lived in the Kenwood Neighborhood, near the University of Chicago, for a number of years.
Illinios is a particularly influential place to many of America’s previous presidents too, including Lincoln, Reagan and Grant, who all lived there at some point in their lives.
Washington DC
Following Obama’s inauguration, he has now begun his first term as the US President at the White House in Washington DC, Washington State.
After previously tackling issues such as oil, fuel standards, poverty and disability pay for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama is set to make some influential changes in America over the next four years, as many Presidents have done in the past.
Michelle and their daughters have moved into the White House with Obama; the first floor of which contains the state rooms, and the second floor is the residence area. There are 16 rooms upstairs, including five bedrooms, a living room, sitting rooms, bathrooms and a kitchen.
Washington DC is famous for celebrating American’s historical and political achievements, and is a prominent democratic state. Significant monuments and museums include the US Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial and The Pentagon.
Obama has come a long way on his journey to becoming President, both geographically and personally. Starting life in Hawaii, he was perhaps unaware, at such a young age, of the racial segregation that was playing such a significant part in the life of so many African-Americans at the time. So for an African-American to become President is a huge societal development.
Obama was born into a mixed race family, with a black father and white mother, and so has always had a grounded approach to the concept of cultural differences.
His homes in the countries he has visited have also helped contribute towards his outlook on life, and towards his policies which will ultimately shape the future of America.