Analysis Of Teenage Years And Young Adult Barak Obama
Despite growing up in a segregated society race Obama largely enjoyed a typical American upbringing. Like many other youngsters growing up he, and his friends drank and experimented with drugs. However he was painfully aware of the barriers that society put in front of him because of his race. Obama had a solid upbringing despite the absence of his father. However his childhood was not a particularly religious one. It was only later in life that he would become more committed to his Christian faith. Looking back Obama would describe his mother and grandparents as being detached from religion. Despite this he saw his mother as “the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known. ”
It wasn’t until he was a young man working as a community organiser in Chicago that Obama would come to understand the “power of the African American religious tradition” and how it could drive necessary social change. In 1992 Barak Obama became a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. He had known its pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, since late 1987. Obama remained a member of Trinity United Church of Christ until 2008. During his first presidential campaign some of Wrights earlier sermons and statements were unearthed by the media. The controversy surrounding this led to Obama resigning from the church and distancing himself from Wright. In 1979 Barak Obama graduated from high school. He chose to relocate to Los Angeles, enrolling at Occidental College. It was here, in February 1981, that Barak Obama would make his first public speech. He took to the stage demanding that the college support the growing movement of disinvestment in South Africa. South Africa was a deeply segregated society. Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s awareness of racism had grown. Many countries and people had worked to remove this distasteful ideology from their societies. South Africa however had strengthened it’s policy of apartheid. This led to it being shunned by many other countries who hoped that refusing to interact with the country would force it to reconsider its stance.
In 1981 Obama transferred to Columbia University in New York City. Here he would study political science, specialising in international relations and English literature. Before beginning his studies Obama took some time to travel the world. He visited his mother and half sister in Indonesia before travelling on to stay with college friends in both Pakistan and India. Barak Obama graduated with a BA in 1983. He then spent time working for the Business International Corporation as a financial researcher and writer. After a year with the Business International Corporation Obama left this role to take up another as a project coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
In 1985 Barak Obama relocated to Chicago. Here he was employed by the Developing Communities Project. This organisation was made up of 8 Catholic parishes from the South Side of the city. As well as being a director of the project between June 1985 and May 1988 Obama also worked as a community organiser. In this role he set up a job seekers training programme, a tennants rights organisations and a scheme to prepare people for college life. During this period Obama also spent time working as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation. Like the Developing Communities Project the Gamaliel Foundation is an institute which aims to help community organisation. Whilst living in Chicago Barak Obama lived with Sheila Miyoshi Jager. She was an anthropogist. The relationship was fairly serious, Obama proposed to Sheila on two occassions. However she rejected him both times. During the summer of 1988 Obama took time out to travel around Europe before heading to Kenya. While there he met many members of his fathers family for the first time. Upon returning to America in the autumn of 1988 Obama enrolled at the Harvard Law School. Alongside his studies Obama was made editor and then president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. This gained national attention because Obama was the first person of colour to be elected president of the Havard Law Review. As well as press attention this also earned him a publishing contract. The book was initially supposed to be on the topic of race relations but it grew into a memoir which was published in 1995 under the title Dreams From My Father. Whilst studying at Harvard, Obama also worked as a research assistant to Laurance Tribe, the noted constitutional scholar. During the summer breaks Obama returned to Chicago where he worked as an associate at the Sidley Austin and Hopkins and Sutter law firms. Whilst working at Sidley Austin in the summer of 1989 Obama met Michelle Robinson.
Born on the 17th of January 1964 Michelle LaVaughn Robinson had grown up on Chicagos South Side. Her father, Fraser Robinson III, was employed at a city water plant while her mother, Marian Shields Robinson, worked as a secretary for Spiegel’s catalogue company. Michelle was a good student and after finishing high school followed her older brother Craig to Princeton University. From there Michelle went to study at Harvard Law School. Upon graduating Michelle returned to her native Chicago where she began working for the Sidley Austin law firm. She would later be made the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago. Michelle also worked as the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Centre. But all of that was still to come. In the summer of 1989 she was asked to be Barak Obama’s adviser while the student spent time working at the law firm. The two hit it off. Largely thanks to shared social conscious and an active interest in improving the lives of fellow African Americans. Despite the clear attraction Michelle initially refused Obama’s requests for a date. However by the end of the summer the pair began officially dating.
Barak Obama graduated with honours as a doctor in law in 1991. Following this he once again returned to Chicago and to Michelle. After two years of going steady Obama took Michelle out to ostensibly to celebrate passing the bar exam. During their meal at Gordon’s restaurant in Chicago he proposed. The couple was married on the 3rd of October 1992 at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama’s brother was his best man while Michelle’s older brother walked her down the aisle. Following a reception at the South Shore Cultural Centre, which included a first dance to Stevie Wonder’s “You and I” the couple headed off for a honeymoon on the Californian coast. Whilst working on Dreams From My Father Obama also held a position as the visiting Law and Government fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. Between 1992 and 1996 he was employed by the school as a constitutional law lecturer. Despite being in full time employment Obama did not neglect his civic duties. During 1992 he also directed Project Vote. This was an Illinois based voter registration campaign which aimed to greatly increase the number of African American voters in the state. The success of this project led to Obama being named one of 1993s “40 under 40” by Crain’s Chicago Business. Following this Obama joined the Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Galland law firm. The firm specialised in civil rights litigation and neighbourhood economic development.
Between 1993 and 1996 Obama was an associate. He was then made “of counsel”. This is an American term used to describe people with whom a law firm has a close working relationship. Between 1994 and 2002 Barak Obama served on the boards of a number of different companies. These included the Woods Funds of Chicago and the Joyce Foundation both of which aim to improve the lives of Chicagos poor and impoverished.
From 1996 until his departure in 2004 Barak Obama was a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama came to realise that working with charities and organisatons would only ever achieve so much. While it could improve the lives of some it did not improve the lives of all. If he wanted to have a wider impact on his country then Barrak Obama would have to go to Washington. For the mixed race lawyer that goal was a long way off.
