Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and American mother. He faced many challenges as a biracial child, including his father leaving when he was young. However, he was supported by his grandparents and received a prestigious education. He became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. Obama was elected as a senator from Illinois in 1996 and later became the first African American president of the United States in 2008.

1. Barack Obama The American Dream in Action

2. Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii

3. Father Barack Obama, Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. He grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British

4. Mother Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. Dunham’s mother went to work on a bomber assembly line.

5. Early Life

6. Parents separated before he was born, and Obama moved to Hawaii with his mother When he was six Obama’s mother remarried an Indonesian oil manager and they moved to Jakarta

7. Later returned to Hawaii Raised largely by his grandparents, who were an insurance agents and a furniture salesman.

8. He was enrolled in the fifth grade at the esteemed Punahou Academy Graduated with honors in 1979 He was only one of three black students at the school

9. The only time his father visited was when Barack was in 5 th grade.

10. Road to Glory

11. College Studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years Transferred to Columbia University in New York, and Graduated in 1983 with a degree in political science.

12. Spent four years as a community organizer in Chicago After four years returned to college at Harvard Became first black President of the Harvard Review Graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1991

13. Marriage Met Michelle Robinson, a fellow Harvard graduate in 1988 Married in 1992

14. After College Returned to Chicago and worked a civil rights lawyer Taught at the University of Chicago Law School. Helped organize voter registration drives during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

15. Senator Ran and won for Illinois State Senate seat in 1996 Served as chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee. After serving eight years, was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate

16. Keynote Speech Chosen to deliver a keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention Noted Line- “T here's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.” Increased status and popularity

17. Author Extraordinaire Dreams from My Father , published in 1995 is a memoir of his youth and early career. The Audacity of Hope , published in 2006 Won a Grammy for the Audio book of Dreams from My Father

18. Father Extraordinaire Has two daughters Malai (10) and Sasha (7) They get $1 allowance a week

19. Making History Ran for President of the U.S. against Senator John McCain in the 2008 election Won by 192 electoral votes First African American elected President

20. 100 Days of Change During Obama’s First 100 days in office, he… ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison and a troop withdrawal from Iraq extended healthcare coverage to millions of children ousted the head of General Motors moved to ease tensions with Cuba set aside huge tracts of wilderness for federal protection

21. The day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here. - Barack Obama in his first address to Congress