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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
This document provides an overview of Barack Obama's life and political career within the context of major events in American history. It describes Obama's childhood and family background, his upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia, and his path to becoming a community organizer and law student interested in civil rights. The document then outlines Obama's political rise from Illinois State Senator to U.S. Senator to President of the United States in 2008, noting how he was able to navigate challenges as the first African American president. It frames Obama's story within the broader arc of America's history from its origins as 13 colonies to the present day 50 states.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
- 1. A CHANGING NATION& ACTS OF A MAN
- 2. WHAT IS INTHE BOOK? CHAPTER 1 GOAT HERDER’S SON CHAPTER 2 ENTER ILLINOIS POLITICS CHAPTER 3 RACE TO THE TOP CHAPTER 4 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY CHAPTER 5 FACES OF THE GOVERNED CHAPTER 6 ACCESS TO LAND OF OPPORTUNITY CHAPTER 7 THE POWER OF MARKETS CHAPTER 8 AMERICA TO NEIGHBOR’S AID GLOSSARY AASF……………….WESTWARD EXPANSION. OBAMA: CHAPTERS 1- 3 AMERICA: CHAPTERS 4 TO 8
- 3. BARRY TO BARACK-IN HIS FOOTSTEPS On August 4,1961 in the island state of Hawaii a boy child was born to an unusual couple whose paths crossed on a university campus. This would have been an ordinary American child born on American soil. But he was far from ordinary: the father, Barack Obama Sr. was a foreign student from a British colony of Kenya in Africa who spent very little time in America. This boy would grow up with an unflinching audacity to dream of the most improbable ambition for a child with African heritage. In the face of the social and racial complexities in which the boy found himself- having an estranged African father whom he barely knew, a mother and a stepfather with whom he lived in an exotic foreign country and white grand parents in whose home he spent most of his early school years- Barry Soetoro , as the boy was known, was spellbound by an avid quest for finding his personal identity, and in time, that of his nation. In a country with a recent history where a few individuals controlled the destiny of the rest through outright slavery and other forms of inhuman acts especially against the people of color, how did Barack Obama tread the treacherous path of a political career so successfully that it took most political pundits including those in the African American community by surprise, to become the president of the most powerful nation on earth? Unbelievable wits!
- 4. LONG ARC OFCHANGE -HE SPENT FOUR YEARS OF HIS CHILDHOOD IN INDONESIA AND LEARNED A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ABOUT THE INHERENT ISSUES OF RACE RELATIONS HE TOOK A GOOD LOOK AT THE LONG ARC OF CHANGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE US AND RECONCILED WITH HIS RACIAL IDENTITY HE CALIBRATED THE PACE AND IMPACT OF CHANGE, SAW HOPE AND JUMPED ON ITS WAVE BY BECOMING A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER HE LEARNED A THING OR TWO ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS AND WENT BACK TO SCHOOL TO BEND THE ARC OF CHANGE TOWARDS JUSTICE. HE CHOSE CHICAGO AS HIS HOME AWAY FROM HIS PLACE OF BIRTH FOR ITS REPUTATION AS THE CRADDLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL WELLSPRING
- 5. CHANGE HE BELIEVEDIN HE ENTERED ILLINOIS POLITICS IN EARNEST AS STATE SENATOR AT THE AGE OF 35 YEARS HE CATAPULTED ON THE NATIONAL POLITICAL ARENA SIX YEARS LATER IN JULY 2004 AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION AS THE KEY NOTE SPEAKER. HE ATTAINED CELEBRITY STATUS WHICH ENSURED HIM TO WIN A US SENATE SEAT FOR ILLINOIS. IT WOULD BE HIS FIRST AND LAST TERM IN THE US SENATE AND A BREEDING GROUND FOR HIGHER OFFICE. FOUR SHORT YEARS LATER, AGAINST ALL ODDS AND MOST FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS IN HIS OWN PARTY AND IN THE GENERAL ELECTION STUNNED THE NATION AND THE WORLD BY BECOMING THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THIS IS HIS STORY, BUT IT ALSO IS THE STORY OF A CHANGING NATION: FROM 13 COLONIES, THROUGH SLAVERY TO 50 STATES UNDER A CONSTITUTION THAT RESPECTS GOD GIVEN RIGHTS OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL YET LACKED MORAL WILL POWER TO EXECUTE THOSE RIGHTS.
- 6.
- 7. THE LOST FIGHTSFOR TERRITORY
- 8.
- 9. BONDAGE FOR FREELABOR
- 10. MAKING OF ANEW NATION: THE 13 COLONIES AGAINST BRITISH MONARCHY
- 11. FOUND HOPE INTHE UNITED STATES FROM 13
- 12. WILD WIDE WESTOPPORTUNITIES THROUGH INDIAN TERRITORY
- 13.
- 14. MAPPING OUT THERAIL ROAD LEWIS & CLARK, SANTA FE TRAIL, OREGON TRAIL PONY EXPRESS & TRANSCONTINENTAL RAIL
- 15. TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD PROJECT THESWEAT AND BLOOD OF THE IRISH & CHINESE
- 16. NEW FRONTIER HOMESTEADS FROM1862 TO 1976
- 17. MORE HOMESTEADS SETTLEMENTS L LANDGRANTS OF 160 ACRES
- 18. NEW TERRITORY ANDNEW STATES
- 19. KING COTTON ANDSLAVERY
- 20. NORTHERN STATES OPPOSESLAVERY COMPROMISE: 1 SLAVE= 3/5 OF WHITE
- 21. THEN THERE WASSECESSION & CIVIL WAR MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE DIED
- 22.
- 23. FINALLY TO THESE(1959)- 50 STATES FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA!
- 24. ENTER POLITICS OFBLUE & RED STATES OBAMA IS ENGRAVED ON ARC OF HISTORY
- 25. THE US ASWE KNOW IT OBAMA ENTERS 2ND TERM BRUISED BUT UP AND RUNNING
Editor's Notes
- #12 WERE INDIVIDUALLY UNDER CONSTANT THREAT OF THE BRITISH INVASION SO THEY UNITED
- #14 IN THE 19TH CENTURY AMERICA WAS AROUSED BY THE NOTION OF” MANIFEST DESTINY”. IT WAS WIDELY BELIEVED THAT THE UNITED STATES SETTLERS WERE DESTINED TO EXPAND THROUGHOUT THE CONTINENT.
- #15 THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO CROSS TO THE WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. IT STARTED IN MAY 1804 NEAR ST.LOUIS MISOURI AND SIGHTED THE PACIFIC OCEAN IN NOVEMBER OF 1805. THEY LEFT THE PACIFIC COAST IN LATE MARCH 1806 AND ARRIVED WHERE THEY STARTED NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN SEPTEMBER 1806.
- #16 he First Transcontinental Railroad was built crossing the western half of America and it was pieced together between 1863 and 1869. It was 1,776 miles long and served for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States to be connected by rail for the first time in history. The Transcontinental Railroad was also known as the Pacific Railroad for a while and later on as the Overland Route – after the main passenger transport service that operated the line.
- #17 TEN PERCENT OF THE UNITED STATES OR 275 MILLION ACRES OF LAND IN 30 STATES WAS TRANSFERRED FROM FEDERAL TO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP UNDER THE HOMESTEAD ACTS.
- #19 WESTWARD EXPANSION WAS MOTIVATED BY THE BELIEF IN THE NATION OF “MANIFEST DESTINY”.
- #24 THE ISLANDS OF HAWAII TOGETHER WITH ALASKA BECAME THE 49TH AND 50TH AND YOUNGEST STATES OF THE UNION IN IN JANUARY AND AUGUST OF 1959.