Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He would eventually be elected as the first African American to ever become president.
Obama’s parents divorced when he was very young, and he was raised by his mother, Ann Dunham. After his mother remained, they moved to Indonesia when he was only six years old, and he attended school there. A couple of years later, in 1971, Obama moved back to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents. After his high school graduation in 1979, he attended Occidental College in California. Two years later, he transferred to Columbia University in New York to study political science.
Once he graduated, Obama had many jobs, such as a financial researcher and a community organizer. He went back to school to study law at Harvard. During his time at Harvard, he was editor and then the president of the Harvard Law Review, where he was the first African American to hold that position. After graduating he went on to conduct lectures on constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.
He was elected as Illinois state senator in 1996. He was also a Democratic Spokesperson for the Public Health and Welfare Committee. He went on to become a senator in the United States Senate. He pushed for acts such as the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. In February 2007 Obama announced his intention to run for president of the United States.
He chose Joe Biden as his vice presidential nominee, and the two were running against John McCain and Sarah Palin. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the popular vote and was elected as the first African American president. He passed many bills that were meant to help everyday citizens, such as the Affordable Care Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. In 2011 he announced that he was running for reelection.
He once again won the popular vote and was sworn into office in January 2013. During his second term, he wanted to address rising gun violence, immigration reform, and helping citizens afford healthcare.
Obama married the later first lady Michelle Robinson in October of 1992. She was the first African American woman to be first lady. The couple went on to have two daughters, Malia and Sasha. Obama made history as the first African American to be elected president and is recognized as a caring, charismatic, and thoughtful leader.
