2009 Flashback: Welcome to Your New Home
President Obama's original journey to the White House.
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How He Got There - As President Obama once again makes history on Jan. 21 at his second inauguration ceremony, BET.com looks back on the road he traveled to the White House when the journey began four years ago. — Joyce Jones (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Born in the U.S.A. - Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, to Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. His father was from Kenya and his mother was originally from Kansas. (Photo: Public Domain)
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Split - Soon after he was born, Obama’s parents divorced. (Photo: Courtesy of Obama Campaign)
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Broader Horizons - In 1967, Obama’s mother remarries and the family moves to Indonesia where he lives for four years. At first he attends a Catholic school, but later attends a public Muslim school. (Photo: REUTERS/Obama For America /Landov)
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Home Sweet Home - In the early 1970s, Obama returns to Hawaii and is raised by his grandparents. He graduates from high school in 1979. (Photo: REUTERS/Obama For America/Handout)
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Post-Grad - After graduating from Columbia University, Obama worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group. (Photo: Courtesy of Obama Campaign)
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Community - After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked as a community organizer. (Photo: AP via The New York Daily News)
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Harvard Law - Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. In his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising its staff of 80 editors. (Photo: Joe Wrinn/Harvard University, via Associated Press)
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Chicago Redux - After earning Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.(Photo: Courtesy of Obama Campaign)
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They Do - In 1992, Obama married Michelle Robinson, also an attorney. (Photo: REUTERS/Obama For America /Landov)
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The Professor - In 1992, Obama began a 12-year stint teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. (Photo: Courtesy of Barack Obama)
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Get Out the Vote - Obama directed Illinois' Project Vote, a voter registration drive, from April to October 1992.(Photo: Courtesy of Obama Campaign)
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Bestseller - In 1995, Obama publishes his first book, a personal memoir, Dreams From My Father. (Photo: Three Rivers Press)
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Sen. Obama - Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. He was reelected in 1998, and again in 2002. (Photo: Nam Y. Huh-Pool/Getty Images)
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Losing Proposition - In 2000, Obama lost a Democratic primary challenge against four-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one. (Photo: Courtesy of Bobby Rush, Pete Souza)
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Higher Sights - In mid-2002, Obama began considering a run for the U.S. Senate. He formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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National Debut - Obama made his national debut when he delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Obama spoke about changing the U.S. government's economic and social priorities. He criticized heavily partisan views of the electorate and asked Americans to find unity in diversity, saying, "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America." (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Obama Goes to Washington - Obama was sworn in as a U.S. senator on Jan. 4, 2005. He was the fifth African-American senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularly elected. He was the only senator in the Congressional Black Caucus. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Going for the Gold - Standing before a cheering crowd in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his presidential bid on Feb. 10, 2007. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Game Change - In a stunning victory, Obama won the Jan. 3, 2008, Iowa caucuses, dealing a significant setback to rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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