Barack Obama | Biography, Parents, Education, Presidency, Books, & Facts | Britannica (2024)

44th president of the United States

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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

  • Barack Obama - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
  • Barack Obama - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Also known as: Barack Hussein Obama II

Written by

David Mendell Journalist. Author of Obama: From Promise to Power.

David Mendell,

Jeff Wallenfeldt Jeff Wallenfeldt was manager of Geography and History at Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Jeff WallenfeldtAll

Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Quick Facts

In full:
Barack Hussein Obama II
Born:
August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. (age 63)
Also Known As:
Barack Hussein Obama II
Title / Office:
presidency of the United States of America (2009-2017), United States
United States Senate (2005-2008), United States
Political Affiliation:
Democratic Party
Awards And Honors:
Nobel Prize (2009)
Grammy Award (2007)
Grammy Award (2005)
Grammy Award (2008): Best Spoken Word Album
Grammy Award (2006): Best Spoken Word Album
Nobel Peace Prize (2009)
John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award (2017)
Notable Works:
“A Promised Land”
“Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance”
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”
Notable Family Members:
spouse Michelle Obama
son of Barack Obama, Sr.
son of S. Ann Dunham
married to Michelle Obama (1992–present)
father of Malia Obama (b. 1998)
father of Sasha Obama (b. 2001)
half brother of Maya Soetoro-Ng
half brother of Auma Obama
half brother of Mark Obama Ndesandjo
half brother of David Ndesandjo
half brother of Malik Obama
half brother of George Obama
half brother of Abo Obama
half brother of Samson Obama
half brother of Bernard Obama
Role In:
Afghanistan War
Iraq War
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
Syrian Civil War
United States presidential election of 2012
United States presidential election of 2008
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Paris Agreement
USA PATRIOT Act
Education:
Punahou School
Occidental College
Columbia University (B.A., 1983)
Harvard Law School (J.D., 1991)
Founder Of:
Higher Ground Productions
Published Works:
"Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters" (2010)
"Our Enduring Spirit: President Barack Obama's First Words to America" (2009)
"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" (2006)
"Dreams from My Father" (1995)
Twitter Handle:
@BarackObama
Instagram Username:
barackobama

See all related content

Top Questions

Who were Barack Obama’s parents?

Barack Obama’s parents married while students at the University of Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., a Kenyan, became an economist in the government of Kenya. His mother, S. Ann Dunham, became an anthropologist. They divorced in 1964. Ann then married (and later divorced) another foreign student, Indonesian Lolo Soetoro.

Where did Barack Obama attend school?

Barack Obama graduated from Punahou School, an elite academy in Honolulu, and then attended Occidental College before transferring to Columbia University and earning (1983) a B.A. in political science. He graduated (1991) magna cum laude from Harvard University’s law school and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

What did Barack Obama do for a living?

After working as a writer and editor in Manhattan, Barack Obama became a community organizer in Chicago, lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago, worked as a civil rights attorney, and then served in the Illinois Senate (1997–2004), as a U.S. senator (2005–08), and as U.S. president (2009–17).

What did Barack Obama write?

Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams from My Father (1995), is the story of his search for his biracial identity by tracing the lives of his now-deceased father and extended family in Kenya. His second book, The Audacity of Hope (2006), is a polemic on his vision for the United States.

What is Barack Obama famous for?

Barack Obama was the first African American president of the United States (2009–17). He oversaw the recovery of the U.S. economy (from the Great Recession of 2008–09) and the enactment of landmark health care reform (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). In 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Are DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the DREAM Act, supported by Barack Obama, good for America?

Whether DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the DREAM Act, supported by Barack Obama, are good for America is widely debated. Some say the policies are are good for the U.S. economy and deporting Dreamers is cruel. Others say the policies only encourage more illegal immigration and amnesty should not be given to law breakers. For more on the Dreamer debate, visit ProCon.org.

News

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Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) is the 44th president of the United States (2009–17) and the first African American to hold the office. Before winning the presidency, Obama represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate (2005–08). He was the third African American to be elected to that body since the end of Reconstruction (1877). In 2009 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Early life

Obama’s father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a teenage goatherd in rural Kenya, won a scholarship to study in the United States, and eventually became a senior economist in the Kenyan government. Obama’s mother, S. Ann Dunham, grew up in Kansas, Texas, and Washington state before her family settled in Honolulu. In 1960 she and Barack Sr. met in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii and married less than a year later.

When Obama was age two, Barack Sr. left to study at Harvard University; shortly thereafter, in 1964, Ann and Barack Sr. divorced. (Obama saw his father only one more time, during a brief visit when Obama was 10.) Later Ann remarried, this time to another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia, with whom she had a second child, Maya. Obama lived for several years in Jakarta with his half sister, mother, and stepfather. While there, Obama attended both a government-run school where he received some instruction in Islam and a Catholic private school where he took part in Christian schooling.

He returned to Hawaii in 1971 and lived in a modest apartment, sometimes with his grandparents and sometimes with his mother (she remained for a time in Indonesia, returned to Hawaii, and then went abroad again—partly to pursue work on a Ph.D.—before divorcing Soetoro in 1980). For a brief period his mother was aided by government food stamps, but the family mostly lived a middle-class existence. In 1979 Obama graduated from Punahou School, an elite college preparatory academy in Honolulu.

Obama attended Occidental College in suburban Los Angeles for two years and then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where in 1983 he received a bachelor’s degree in political science. Influenced by professors who pushed him to take his studies more seriously, Obama experienced great intellectual growth during college and for a couple of years thereafter. He led a rather ascetic life and read works of literature and philosophy by William Shakespeare, Friedrich Nietzsche, Toni Morrison, and others. After serving for a couple of years as a writer and editor for Business International Corp., a research, publishing, and consulting firm in Manhattan, he took a position in 1985 as a community organizer on Chicago’s largely impoverished Far South Side. He returned to school three years later and graduated magna cum laude in 1991 from Harvard University’s law school, where he was the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review. While a summer associate in 1989 at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin, Obama had met Chicago native Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer at the firm. The two married in 1992.

Britannica QuizU.S. Presidents and Their Years in Office Quiz

After receiving his law degree, Obama moved to Chicago and became active in the Democratic Party. He organized Project Vote, a drive that registered tens of thousands of African Americans on voting rolls and that is credited with helping Democrat Bill Clinton win Illinois and capture the presidency in 1992. The effort also helped make Carol Moseley Braun, an Illinois state legislator, the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. During this period, Obama wrote his first book and saw it published. The memoir, Dreams from My Father (1995), is the story of Obama’s search for his biracial identity by tracing the lives of his now-deceased father and his extended family in Kenya. Obama lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago and worked as an attorney on civil rights issues.

At a glance: the Obama presidency

Barack Obama | Biography, Parents, Education, Presidency, Books, & Facts | Britannica (2024)

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