Barack Obama was the 44th president and first American-American president in the United States of America. Learn about his early life, education, political career, quotes more with these easy to read, President Barack Obama Facts & Quotes for Kids!
President Barack Obama was born Barack Hussein Obama II on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii. Barack in Swahili means “one who is blessed”?
Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20th 2009. He was the first African American President of the United States.
Barack’s parents met while attending school at the University of Hawaii.
Barack Obama’s mother was named Stanley Ann Dunham. She went by the name Ann. Ann was from Kansas and was Caucasian. Unfortunately she never had the chance to see her son become president, she died of cancer in 1995.
Barack Obama’s father was named Barack Obama Sr. He was born in Kenya a country in Africa. He was killed in a car accident in 1982.
Barack Obama’s parents divorced when he was 2 years old and his father moved back to Kenya.
Ann married another man she met at the university, He was from Indonesia. She and Barack moved with him to Jakarta Indonesia in 1967. Ann wanted Barack to receive a better education, so she sent him to live with his grandparents in Hawaii when he was 10.
Education
Obama attended the Punahou a private school in Hawaii. In school he had the nickname “O”Bomer because he was a great basketball player.
He graduated high school from the Punahou school in 1979. After graduation, he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.
In 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York. He graduated in 1983 with a degree in political science.
Barack Obama wanted to get into law. He entered Harvard Law School in 1988. While at Harvard, Obama became the 1st African-American to become president of the Harvard Law Review. The Harvard Law Review is a student run organization that publish a journal that works as a research tool for law students. It is known to be one of the most prestigious journals in the country. In 1991 Obama graduated with a law degree.
Civil Rights Law
Obama moved to Chicago and became a civil rights lawyer, He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992-2004. He also taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago.
He met Michelle LaVaugh Robinson who was also working in a law office.
Barack and Michelle got married on October 18, 1992.
They have two children Malia and Natasha (Sasha).
In 1992 Barack was the director of Project Vote. It was a campaign to get minorities registered to vote. Under his direction 150,000 African Americans were registered to vote.
In 1993 Barack worked as director of the Developing Communities Project. It was a community organization. He helped set up job training, college prep tutoring and a tenants rights organization.
In 1995 Obama wrote his first book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. It was a story of his family.
Political Career
In 1996 Barack Obama ran for Senate in the state of Illinois. He won and served as senator until 2004.
In 2006 Barack Obama won a Grammy for his autobiography Dreams from My Father.
In 2007 Obama announced that he would be running for United States President as a democrat. He beat out Hillary Clinton, to win the Democratic Nomination. Obama chose Joe Biden to run with him as Vice President.
Obama and Biden were racing against Republican Nominee John McCain and Sara Palin.
A historic number of people came out to vote in the election. He won the election and became the 44th president and the 1st African-American President. He was inaugurated on January 20, 2008.
An estimated 2 million people came to watch his inauguration, the most in history.
When Barack Obama became president he kept his promise to Malia and Sasha and got a dog.
The family dog was named Bo. He is a black and white Portuguese Water dog.
Barack Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for his “extraordinary” efforts at international diplomacy and foreign policy. It was a very proud moment for him.
He reformed health care by passing the Patient Protection Act and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010.
Obama ran for office for a second term and won in 2012.
Barack Obama kept a wooden hand holding an egg on his desk. This is a Kenyan symbol of reminding people of the fragility of life. Fragility means being delicate, vulnerable; being easily broken or damaged.
President Obama fun fact: He has read all of the Harry Potter Books.
President Obama fun fact: He worked at Baskin-Robbins when he was a teenager.
Barack Obama Quotes
“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”
“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”
“The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.”
“We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.”
“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.”
“I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you’re headed for a cliff, you have to change direction. That’s what the American people called for in November, and that’s what we intend to deliver.”
“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.”
Free Printable Barack Obama Worksheet
