Obama
Early Life
Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a white American from Wichita, Kansas, and his father, Barack Obama Sr., was a black Kenyan from Nyanza Province. Obama's parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.
Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old, and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian oil manager, and the family moved to Jakarta when Obama was six. Here, Obama spent four years attending local Indonesian-language schools, and learning the Indonesian language.
Education
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from the fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. Obama lived with his grandparents until his mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for five years, and then again in 1977 for another three years.
After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College. In 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations. Obama graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983.
Early Career
After graduating from Columbia University, Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he entered Harvard Law School where he was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, and its president in his second year. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. After graduating with a JD degree magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.
Political Career
Obama's political career began in 1996 when he was elected to the Illinois Senate. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican nominee Jack Ryan.
In the U.S. Senate, Obama gained national attention during his campaign to become the Democratic Party's nominee for the 2008 presidential election. After winning the nomination, Obama, along with his running mate, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, went on to defeat the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, in the general election. Obama became the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office.
Presidency
Obama was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. During his first two years in office, Obama signed many landmark bills into law, such as the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also ended the U.S. military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.
Post-Presidency
After his presidency, Obama remained active in public life. He and his wife, Michelle Obama, signed a deal with Netflix to produce documentaries, series, and feature films. Obama also published a memoir, "A Promised Land," which became a bestseller.
