Black History Month

Barack Obama

Aug. 4, 1961 -
Hawaii, United States
Nationality: American
Occupation: Politician, Lawyer, U.S. president-elect

Barack Obama was a state senator from Illinois when he won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in March of 2004. His selection as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention that July – and a speech deemed by Time as "one of the best in convention history" – confirmed his status as a rising star. In November 2004, Obama became only the third African-American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Alan Keyes in Illinois. In November 2008, Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president.

Had International Upbringing

Obama was born in Hawaii. His father was a black man from Kenya, his mother a white woman from Kansas who had moved to Honolulu with her parents. Obama's father left the family to attend Harvard and eventually returned to Kenya, where he worked as a government economist. His mother's second husband was an Indonesian oil manager, and Obama lived in that country from the ages of six to ten years old. Afterward, he went back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.

Although Obama's father only visited him once after he left, the son grew up with stories of his father's brilliant mind. Obama honed his own mind at Hawaii's top prep academy, Punahou School. From there, Obama went to Columbia University, where he became interested in community activism. After graduating in 1983, he moved to Chicago to spend three years as a community organizer on the city's poverty-stricken South Side.

Obama's intellect, drive, and social conscience led to his decision to become a lawyer. He went to Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. Upon his graduation (magna cum laude) in 1991, Obama shunned offers of prominent law firms and impressive clerkships in order to practice civil rights law in Chicago. He also took a position teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Soon the idealistic young attorney became involved in politics.

Encouraged the Politics of Unity

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, representing the 13th District as a Democrat. His work there included writing landmark legislation to stop racial profiling and sponsoring a bill to expand medical coverage for uninsured children. He also developed a reputation for an inclusive style that eschewed mud-slinging and gained the admiration of his opponents. Republican state Senator Kirk Dillard told William Finnegan of The New Yorker, "Obama is an extraordinary man. His intellect, his charisma. He's to the left of me on gun control, abortion. But he can really work with Republicans."

In March of 2004, Obama took his efforts to connect with all kinds of people to the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. His message apparently resounded with voters, as he won a surprising 53 percent of the vote – including support from white blue-collar workers. Obama explained his appeal across demographic lines to Bob Herbert of The New York Times. While admitting there are differences among people, Obama said there is also "a set of core values that bind us together as Americans."

The Democratic Party also noted Obama's ideas and success and invited him to be the keynote speaker at its national convention in July 2004. Despite his intelligence, ambition, and broad appeal, simple civility distinguished Obama from many of his political peers. He told Herbert of The New York Times, "There's a certain tone in politics that I aspire to that allows me to disagree with people without being disagreeable."

Distinguished Senator, Award-Winning Author

In the 2004 election, Obama easily won the U.S. Senate seat against Republican Alan Keyes with 70 percent of the vote. The victory made him only the fifth African-American U.S. senator ever and only the third since the post-Civil-War Reconstruction era. He continued to attract attention while serving in the Senate due to his charisma, drive, and desire to find common ground with political opposites. As a senator, Obama worked on issues such as ethics reform of Congress, a bill establishing new funds to fight avian flu, and an increase in health care for veterans.

From nearly the moment he entered the office, he was asked if he would run for president in 2008. Obama did not commit right away but served his constituents and described himself and his philosophy in his memoir Dreams from My Father (originally published in 1995, but re-published in 2004) and his 2006 best seller The Audacity of Hope.

Throughout Dreams from My Father, Obama questions what the African heritage he received from his father means to him, and how it fits into his life alongside the white, Midwestern culture he was raised in. Hazel Rochman noted in Booklist that the book "reads like a wry commentary about all of us," insofar as all Americans navigate "messy contradictions and disparate communities" in their own lives. Black Issues Book Review contributor Dan Holly described Obama as "a deep thinker ..., a keen observer, an articulate visionary and a vivid storyteller."

In his books, Obama attempts to strike a balance between politics and writing. "Images, actions, and stories always speak the loudest...." he told Oprah in an interview published in O. "Policy has to be guided by facts, but to move people you have to tell stories."

Presidential Candidate

After Obama launched his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in February 2007, he would often harness the power of communication to motivate voters. Considered a master orator, Obama gave speeches to record crowds throughout the campaign. An innovative campaigner, Obama used social networking technologies, including Facebook, Myspace, and collaborative Web applications on his campaign site, not only to raise money but also to enable volunteers to spread the word about events and organize their own. "One of my fundamental beliefs from my days as a community organizer is that real change comes from the bottom up," he said in a statement (as quoted in The New York Times). "And there's no more powerful tool for grass-roots organizing than the Internet."

Running against Senators Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, among others, for the Democratic nomination, Obama was still relatively unknown and faced numerous challenges to prove his experience and to win over white, blue-collar voters and African-Americans loyal to Clinton. He also faced a possible campaign-derailing scandal after racially charged comments from his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, were made public. In his "A More Perfect Union" speech (March 18, 2008), Obama used the controversy as an opportunity to discuss race openly with a call for unity and understanding, urging Americans of all races and ethnicities to acknowledge the deep chasm caused by racism while considering the perspectives of others.

After a highly competitive race with Clinton, Obama won the Democratic nomination in June 2008. The marathon campaign set new records in the number of voters participating and in fundraising totals, but its greatest historical importance was the smashing of a racial barrier. Obama's victory made him the first African-American nominated for president by a major party. On August 28, 2008, Obama accepted the nomination as his party's candidate for president. His speech, given 45 years to the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C., was a personal and historic triumph, watched with interest by America and the world.

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, defeating Republican Senator John McCain. In his acceptance speech in Chicago's Grant Park later that evening, Obama said, "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Personal Information

Born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, HI; son of Barack Obama (a Kenyan government official) and Ann Dunham (an educator); married, wife's name Michelle (a public affairs professional), 1992; children: Malia Ann, Natasha.

Education: Attended Occidental College, c. 1979-81, Columbia University, 1983, Harvard Law School, J.D. (magna cum laude), 1991.

Politics: Democrat.

Religion: United Church of Christ.

Awards: Named among "Forty under Forty," Crain's Chicago Business, 1993; named among "Fifty Most Intriguing Blacks of 2004," Ebony; Newsmaker of the Year Award, National Newspaper Publishers Association, 2004; Chairman's Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 2005; Grammy Award for a Spoken Word Album, 2006, for Dreams From My Father, and 2008, for The Audacity of Hope.

Career: Community organizer in Chicago, c. 1983-87; University of Chicago Law School, senior lecturer in constitutional law, c. 1991-2004; Miner, Barnhill and Galland (law firm), Chicago, IL, lawyer; State of Illinois senator representing the 13th district (south side of Chicago), 1997-2004; U.S. Senator for Illinois, 2005-2008. Winner of United States presidential election, 2008. Chair of voter registration drive in Chicago, 1992; Chicago Annenberg Challenge (charitable fund-raising drive), chair. President, Harvard Law Review, 1990.

Writings

• Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (autobiography), Times Books (New York, NY), 1995, with a new preface by the author, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2004.

• The Audacity of Hope Crown (New York, NY), 2006.

Further Reading

Periodicals

• Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008.
• Grand Rapids Press, July 15, 2004.
• Jet, March 15, 2004.
• Newsmakers, Issue 4. Gale Group, 2007.
• Newsweek, July 5, 2004.
• Notable Black American Men Book II, Thomson Gale, 2006.
• The New York Times, June 4, 2004, July 7, 2008, Nov. 5, 2008.

Online

• "A More Perfect Union," (televised speech, March 18, 2008), http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords (Dec. 17, 2008).
• "The Candidate," The New Yorker, May 31, 2004, http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040531fa_fact1 (July 18, 2004).
• "The Joshua Generation: Race and the Campaign of Barack Obama," The New Yorker, November 17, 2008, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/17/081117fa_fact_remnick (Dec. 15, 2008).

Source

Biography Resource Center: African Americans. Gale Group.