Obama's Journey to the White House
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Obama's Journey - Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. His father is from Kenya and his mother is originally from Kansas.
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Obama's Journey - Soon after he was born, Obama’s parents divorced.
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Obama's Journey - In 1967 Obama’s mother remarries and the family moves to Indonesia where Barack lives for four years. At first he attends a Catholic school, but later attends a public Muslim school.
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Obama's Journey - In the early 1970’s Obama returns to Hawaii and is raised by his grandparents. He graduates from high school in 1979.
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Obama's Journey - Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles where he studied at Occidental College for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983.
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Obama's Journey - After Columbia, Obama worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.
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Obama's Journey - After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago, where he began he continued his career as a community organizer.
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Obama's Journey - 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 the Law Review's staff of eighty editors.
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Obama's Journey - After graduating with a Juris Doctor (JD) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 he returned to Chicago.
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Obama's Journey - In 1992 he marries Michelle Robinson.
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Obama's Journey - Obama directed Illinois' Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive.
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Obama's Journey - In 1992, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, being first classified as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.
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Obama's Journey - In 1995 publishes his first book, a personal memoir, “Dreams from My Father.”
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Obama's Journey - Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, and again in 2002.
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Obama's Journey - In 2000, Obama lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.
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Obama's Journey - In mid-2002, Obama began considering a run for the U.S. Senate; he formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.
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Obama's Journey - July 2004 was Obama’s national coming out party. Obama wrote and 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."
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Obama's Journey - Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005. Obama was the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularity elected. He is the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.