Barack Obama Facts, Biography, Books, And Presidency

Barack Hussein Obama II, as he was originally named, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.

Barack Obama became the 44th president and notably the first African-American to hold the office of the United States. President Barack Obama ran against and won over John McCain of Arizona to be elected on 4 November 2008.

Barack Obama's family includes his wife Michelle Obama, his daughters Sasha Obama (Natasha Marian) and Malia Obama (Malia Ann), parents Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr, and their dog Bo. In 1979, Barack Obama graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College.

In 1981 Barack moved to Columbia University in New York City, where he studied political science with a focus on international affairs. In 1983 he earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science and completed his research.

In 1988, Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School and graduated with a law degree magna cum laude in 1991. While studying at Harvard Law, he became the first African-American president of Harvard Law Review.

Barack's parents were Barack Hussein Obama, his father with the same name, and his mother, Ann Dunham who was from Europe, Wichita, Kansas. Ann's father served in the US Army during World War II and was born in 1942 at an army base.

Barack sr. was a Luo African living in Nyanza Province, Kenya.

He flocked growing goats and eventually received a scholarship that allowed him to go to the United States and attend college in Hawaii. That is where Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr met — at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

After becoming president, he served for three terms in the Illinois Senate as District 13 representative and received national attention during a campaign to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate. After graduating from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he was a successful civil rights lawyer before entering politics.

Obama had a great track record, being elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 and then the U.S. Senate in 2004.

After gaining enough delegates to receive a presidential nomination in the Democratic primary, he won the general election against Republican candidate John McCain.

He officially became 44th president of the United States of America in January 2009 just as the country was suffering from a global recession. In his speech, Obama spoke about his early days in Chicago and his continued belief in the power of Americans to participate in democracy.

In a campaign that projected the theme of hope and change, Obama emphasized the problems of quickly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health system.

If you enjoyed reading this article, you could also read about Albert Einstein facts and Alexander Graham Bell facts here on Kidadl?

Where did Obama grow up?

As an infant, Barack Obama grew up on the Karanaiana'ole Highway in Honolulu before 18-year-old Obama's mother moved to Seattle with her son.

She rented her own apartment on Capitol Hill and went to the University of Washington in 1962. In 1963 Ann and Barack sr. got divorced, after which Barack Obama spent five years growing up in Honolulu where he went to Noelani Elementary School.

After spending many years in Jakarta, Indonesia, Obama returned to Hawaii in 1971 and stayed in Hawaii until he graduated from Punahou School, Honolulu's elite college, in 1979.

Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and attended Occidental College before graduating in 1983.

He then attended Columbia University in New York City, moved to Chicago in 1985 at the age of 24, and met Michelle LaVaughn Robinson at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1989. Barack graduated a magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, going on to become the first African-American president of the United States.

What awards has Obama won?

Barack Obama has incredibly won two Grammy Awards so far for the Best Spoken Word Album. Obama won the award for the summary audiobook version of 'Dream from My Father' (2006) and 'The Audacity of Hope' (2008).

In 2009, Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.

Time magazine has also named Obama 'Person of the Year' twice in 2008 and 2012. In addition, Barack Obama has won an academy award for best documentary feature, the profile in courage award, the NME Award for Hero of the year, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction, NAACP Image Award – Chairman's Award.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for 'Extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between the people' and 'Vision and efforts for a world free of nuclear weapons'. On March 23, 2010, Obama signed the Universal Health Care Act, or Affordable Care Act, popularly known as 'Obama Care'. 

Barack Obama Books

There are several books that Barack Obama wrote. Here is the list of those books.

A Promised Land, Of Thee I Sing: A letter to my daughters, The Audacity of hopes: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American dream, Barack Obama: In his own words, Dreams From My Father: A story of race and inheritance, Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's plan to renew America's promise, Farewell Speeches, Our Enduring Spirit: President Barack Obama's first words to America, Renegades: Born in the USA, Yes We Can!

: A salute to children from president Obama's victory speech, Wo Wir Stehen, Collectors Edition 2008: Elected President Barack Obama: The Victory Speech, Inspire A Nation, Discours Choisis, Black Lives Matter: Reflections on Hope, Fragility, and Race in America, De La Race En Amerique.

Barack Obama Family

When it comes to the family of Barack Obama, parents include Barack Hussein Obama, his father with the same name, and mother, Ann Dunham. His parents got married in 1961 on 2nd February, and six months into their marriage, Barack Obama II was born in Honolulu.

In 1963 Ann and Barack Obama Sr. got divorced, and he then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Obama's mother passed away in 1995 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Obama was 27 when he first met his future wife, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson. She was a fellow graduate of Harvard Law School and was assigned as his mentor when he became a summer associate at the law firm of the same company that he worked for. They got married on October 3, 1992.

Obama has two daughters, Maria Ann and Natasha (Sasha) Obama. Barack Obama's girls were 10 and 7 years old when their father became president.

Marian Shields Robinson, Michelle's mother, lived with them and helped the girls while her parents played their leading roles. Obama promised his wife Michelle Obama that he'd quit smoking before moving to Washington.

He couldn't do that, but he eventually kicked the habit in 2010. If the father won the presidential election, the girls were promised a puppy, so a Portuguese water dog named Bo too joined the family.

Did You Know...

In 1992 he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, and in 1996 he became a senior lecturer. He challenged politics and ran for the Illinois Senate in 1996 as a Democrat.

He upheld legislation to increase tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated social reforms, and encouraged increased childcare subsidies. He was re-elected in 1998 and 2002.

An ambitious man and a successful politician in the United States, Barack Obama decided to run for president and announced his candidacy for president in 2007. He was elected presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. Obama defeated then Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the U.S. presidential election on 4 November 2008.

Obama received 365 votes versus the 173 votes that McCain received. Delaware Senator Joe Biden became his Vice President, and this propelled him to become America's 46th president.

In his first term as president, Obama went on to support same-sex marriage and fought for the right of women to choose their own health. He also made college education more affordable for millions of students.

The important role he played in the recovery of the American economy from the recession and the war on terror made him a highly respected and wildly popular president.

Obama also doubled the amount of electricity generated by renewable energy in his first semester.

In 2009, he ordered all federal authorities to reduce their environmental impact by 2020. Reducing fleet gasoline usage by 30% and improving water efficiency by 26% remain some of the goals needed to minimize environmental impact in the coming years.

As president, his main focus was on revitalizing the U.S. economy after the recession. He then signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform and consumer protection legislation (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after the fall during the recession.

In March 2010, he signed the Affordable Care Act, a signature law. 12-18 million Americans have health insurance that was previously uninsured under the law.

Obama was a little boy when his mother saw his potential and told a friend she believed he could become the president of the United States when he grew up. When he was young, he used to write poetry.

The name Barak means 'blessed' in Swahili. The basketball skills of Barack Obama gave him the nickname 'O'Bomber' in high school. Other achievements of President Obama include the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the U.S.

Taxpayer Relief Act 2012, and the end of the Iraq war. He also ordered a military operation that killed the dreaded terrorist, Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil.

Barack Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., was a young goatherd living in the countryside of Kenya. He then received a scholarship opportunity to study in the United States and eventually became a senior economist in the Kenyan government.

Barack Obama resigned and stopped being president on 20th January 2017, after serving two terms as POTUS. A presidential library is being built in Chicago to store his dissertations and souvenirs. President Obama has a wooden hand sculpture with an egg on his desk — this is a Kenyan symbol that represents the vulnerability of life.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Barack Obama facts then why not take a look at Christopher Columbus facts or facts about Rosa Parks.