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When he was just two years old, young Barack's parents separated. His father eventually moved back to Kenya. His mother stayed in Hawaii. She later married Lolo Soetoro, a University of Hawaii student from Indonesia. The family eventually moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. There, his half sister, Maya, was born. Barry, as his friends and family liked to call him, lived in Indonesia for four years. While there, he learned much about Indonesian culture. But his mother made sure he did not forget about his American heritage. He has said that she would give him books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and tell him inspiring stories about African Americans, including the first black Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall and the actor Sidney Poitier. Obama told TIME that his mother "believed that people were all basically the same under their skin, that bigotry of any sort was wrong and that the goal was to treat everybody as unique individuals." Home, Sweet HomeWhen Barry was ten years old, he moved back to the United States to live with his maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, in Hawaii. He attended Punahou, a prep school, and filled his days body surfing, hanging out with friends and playing basketball. He loved to play basketball. Even today, Obama plays in regular pick-up games with friends.
Hoop DreamsIn high school, "I was sort of a goof-off," Obama admitted to biographer David Mendell. He was a solid B student, but often ignored his studies for friends, the beach, and of course, basketball. Interestingly, Obama didn't get much playing time on his high school basketball team. "I got in a fight with [the coach] and he benched me," says Obama in Mendell's book Obama: A Promise of Change. In addition to continuous fun-in-the-Hawaiian-sun, Obama also struggled with his sense of identity. Being of mixed race, he has said that he questioned who he was and how he could become a strong black man in America. "He did have a lot of race issues, inner race issues, being both black and white," a close friend told ABC News. Growing up without his father around made things even harder for young Obama. He has written that there wasn't any real African American male figure in his life, so he turned to black authors like Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, and W.E.B. DuBois for guidance. Obama's favorite book was, and still is, the Autobiography of Malcolm X, the life story of the activist and Black Muslim leader. Despite his inner struggles, Barry was popular, energetic and ambitious. In Mendell's book, Suzanne Maurer, the mother of a close high school friend describes Obama as "the type that if he had a dream, he would pursue it. The sky seemed to be the limit, and Barry was very much a can-do type person, even with sports, even as a benchwarmer." College and BeyondFor college, Obama went to Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. He later transferred to Columbia University in New York City. During his college years, Obama began to focus more seriously on his schoolwork. He also started going by his full name, Barack. Obama went on to earn his law degree from Harvard University, become a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Constitutional law is the study of the basic laws that govern political communities like states. Obama also served as an Illinois State Senator for eight years. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama gave a speech that captured listeners' attention and helped him gain enough recognition to begin vying for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Obama hopes to secure the nomination at the Democratic National Convention this August. |
