Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at the Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Obama, Sr., a Black Kenyan of Nyang’oma Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a White American from Wichita, Kansas. His parents met while attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student They separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama's father returned to Kenya and saw him only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982. After her divorce, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools in Jakarta until he was ten years old. He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979. Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for several years and then back to Indonesia for her fieldwork. She died of ovarian cancer in 1995.
Following high school, Barack Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[10] He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[11] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.
After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks then Kenya for five weeks where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.
Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition. In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors. Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles. He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.
The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations. In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book. He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid-1995.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lula: Brazil urges US to respect WTO cotton ruling - Reuters Either we respect institutions or the world will fall into disarray," Lula said during the inauguration of a power plant in near Sao Paulo. The WTO gave Brazil the formal go-ahead last year to impose sanctions on U.S. imports after the body ruled the ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:06:00 GMT
Sam Donaldson Named Inaugural Chair of NCCN Foundation ... - Yahoo Finance William T. McGivney, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of NCCN noted, “We are thrilled that Mr. Donaldson has accepted the position as chair of the NCCN Foundation Board of Directors. I am confident that he will provide wise and practical leadership as ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:44:00 GMT
U.S. lays out set of common school standards - MSNBC The nation's governors and state school chiefs will propose standards Wednesday for what students should learn in English and math, from kindergarten through high school, a crucial step in President Obama's campaign to raise academic standards across ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:16:00 GMT
Disaster experts praise Chile quake response - Denver Post SANTIAGO, Chile—President Michelle Bachelet leaves office on Thursday with a chunk of her country in ruins—and her popularity in the clouds. Despite complaints that aid was slow to reach the hungry and homeless, experts say that Chile's response ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:34:00 GMT
Gorillaz tops album chart in first midweek show - Reuters UK LONDON (Reuters) - Virtual band Gorillaz was leading the race for top spot in Britain's weekly album chart on Wednesday in the inaugural midweek update of music sales broadcast on BBC's Radio 1. However, "Plastic Beach," the group's third album which ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:56:00 GMT
Glenn Beck apologizes for "tickle me" Eric - Gather.com His writings were published Jan. 31, 2009 in the British medical journal Lancet…11 days after President Obama’s inauguration ." Massa said Emanuel approached him while he was naked in a shower, and told he that he better not vote against the ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:56:00 GMT
Pillar Data Systems Introduces New Product and Technology Advancements ... - Yahoo Finance SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pillar Data Systems this week presented new product and technology advancements to attendees of its first annual Pillar Customer and Partner Summit. Pillar hosted its community members at The Phoenician Resort in ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:59:00 GMT
City Hall Revisited - Reading Eagle You bet I heard the feedback. It more or less goes like this: “What are you people thinking? The city is drowning/dying/tanking and you guys spend half an hour of council’s time debating voting procedures?” Indeed, we did. This past Monday one ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:46:00 GMT
Michelle Obama donates inaugural gown to educational facility ... - New Kerala Washington, March 10 : Michelle Obama has donated the white gown she wore at the inauguration to the ... During her appearance at the Museum of American History, Mrs Obama said she was humbled but also “a little embarrassed by all the fuss being ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:59:00 GMT
TMC, Beka Publishing Partner to Host Communications Agent Event at ... - TMCnet Deploying High-Density Zones in a Low-Density Data Center Learn more, download free white paper. Selecting an Industry-Standard Metric for Data Center Efficiency Learn more, download free white paper. Preventing Data Corruption in the Event of an ... Publ.Date : Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:17:00 GMT