By Ron

Main Idea

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August, 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii from a white mother and a Kenyan father. Later on, Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States of America; he was the 44th president of the USA. He won the election in 2008 against John McCain. Barack served two terms from 2008-2016 and Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was Barack’s vice president. Barack established a health care system called ObamaCare which meant everyone should get medical insurance.

Background Information

Barack’s father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas. When he was a kid, Black people in America were discriminated against and were not allowed to do things like eat at the same lunch counter, swim in the same swimming pool and drink at the same water fountain and more.

Childhood

Barack Obama’s mother was an American anthropologist (the study of culture and people) and his dad was an African economist (the study of the stock market and/or finances). He spent a chunk of his childhood in Hawaii, later Barack went to 3 universities!

Occidental University, Columbia University and Harvard Law School. After college, he helped low income people in the community and after Harvard law school he became a senator from Chicago.

Challenges

Barack was elected president of The United States of America during the 2008 Great Recession which was the biggest depression besides the Great Depression (1929-1933). Being a Black president, Barack had lots of stress during his time being president because he was trying to bring the country together. Barack faced intense racism during his presidency. His main focus during his first term was repairing the economy and dealing with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His second term was focused on global warming.

Fun Facts

Fun Fact #1: Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace prize in 2009 for his extraordinary efforts to help nations be more cooperative.

Fun Fact #2: Barack Obama received 69,000,000 votes which is the second most votes ever received by a candidate. Only Joe Biden received more - 85,000,000 votes in 2020.

Fun Fact #3: Barack was a senator from Chicago before he was POTUS (President Of The United States).

Fun Fact #4: Barack married Michelle Robinson (later Michelle Obama) and had 2 kids - Malia and Sasha!

Character traits

#1: Unique- Barack Obama was the first Black president of the United States of America.

#2: Talented- Barack was a skilled speaker.

#3: Humble- He didn't brag when he was elected the first Black president.

Relevance today

If I could ask Barack one question it would be: what was it like aboard Air Force One? and /or Marine One?

Barack inspired people all over the world for being the first black POTUS .