ObamaGramma

Barack's Family

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in Kenya.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town in Kansas. Her father Stanley Armour Dunham worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham went to work on a bomber assembly line.

After the war, Barack's grandparents studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

Barack's parents met & married at the University of Hawaii.  His mother was a graduate student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and study in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and in Indonesia where he attended elementary schools of both the Muslim and Catholic faiths.  Barack then returned to America and was raised by his grandparents.

Both of Barack’s parents died in 1995.  His mother Ann died of ovarian cancer at age 53.  His grandfather’s wife Sarah is alive in Kenya, and his grandmother Madelyn lives in Oahu, Hawaii.

Senator Barack Obama is distantly related to both President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Senator Obama is 11 th cousin to President Bush via Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole, a 17 th Century couple from Massachusets.

Senator Obama is 9 th cousin once removed to Vice President Cheney via Mareen & Susannah Duvall, 17 th Century immigrants from France.

Barack Obama

Barack graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

Barack moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

Barack went on to earn his law degree from Harvard University in 1991.  At Harvard, Barack was President of the Harvard Law Review.  

Barack returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Barack was elected to the Illinois State Senate for eight years.

In 2004, Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.  In 2004, Barack was elected to the U.S. Senate.