Michelle Obama

First Lady of the United States

• Born: January 17, 1964
• Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois

Obama worked her way up from humble beginnings on the South Side of Chicago to earn an Ivy League education, become an attorney, and assist in her husband Barack’s successful campaign for president. She became the first African American First Lady of the United States.

Early Life

Michelle LaVaughn Obama was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser and Marian Robinson. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a tight-knit family. Fraser worked for the city’s water filtration department and was a volunteer precinct captain for the Democratic Party. Marian worked as a secretary but later became a stay-at-home mother. As a young girl, Obama loved to play the piano and excelled in school. She skipped the second grade, and in sixth grade, she was selected for advanced courses in French and biology.

Obama’s ambition led her to enroll in Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. Whitney, a racially diverse school located downtown, provided more opportunities than the average Chicago high school. Obama thrived as a student, serving as student council treasurer and a member of the fund-raising publicity committee. She was inducted into the National Honor Society and graduated from high school as salutatorian in 1981.

Obama matriculated at Princeton University in the fall of 1981 and went on to graduate cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. In 1985, she was accepted to Harvard Law School, where she helped provide legal services to the poor people in the community. She graduated in 1988 and was hired at the law firm of Sidley Austin.

Life’s Work

In 1989, while working for Sidley Austin, Obama became a mentor to a first-year law student named Barack Obama. The two soon began dating and were married in 1992 at Trinity United Church of Christ. The deaths of Obama’s father and Michelle’s friend Suzanne Alele led her to reevaluate the career path she had chosen. She came to feel that working as an attorney was not satisfying her need to help others. Michelle and Barack both wanted to make a difference in the world and decided that they could make a larger impact together. In 1991, Obama resigned from Sidley Austin to take on a role that would hone her skills in the political arena.

Obama began to orchestrate a plan that would give back to the community in which she was raised. In 1992, she began working as assistant commissioner in Chicago’s planning and development office. Working with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration allowed her to gain inside knowledge of how the city worked. In 1993, Obama founded Public Allies, a nonprofit organization that prepares young adults to become leaders in the public sector. This initiative, in addition to her strong ties to the community established by her role as associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago, helped get Barack elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996.

On July 4, 1998, Obama and Barack’s first child, Malia Ann, was born. The birth of their second child, Natasha (called Sasha), came soon after. Obama took a break from work to stay at home with her daughters, as her mother had when Obama was a young girl. In 2004, Barack was elected to the US Senate after winning national prominence with a charismatic keynote address at that year’s Democratic National Convention. The family remained in Chicago, and Barack spent much of his time traveling to and from Washington, DC, to fulfill his role as a senator.

In 2008, in a historic election, Barack defeated Republican John McCain to win the presidency. Obama became the first African American First Lady of the United States. Barack Obama served two terms as president of the United States, while Michelle Obama played an integral role as an active first lady, creating programs and initiatives for causes she cared about. Obama's primary focus was combating childhood obesity and making sure children have access to healthy food. In 2010 she started the Let's Move! initiative and, working with the Partnership for a Healthier America, helped to amend food labeling and ensure that healthier and fresher food was available in grocery stores and restaurants. She and Dr. Jill Biden also created a support and resource program for veterans called Joining Forces. Obama also advocated for the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act to redesign public school lunch programs. Obama, along with Barack and the Department of State, teamed up to create the Let Girls Learn initiative in 2015.

In 2018, Obama published the memoir Becoming. She recorded an audiobook version of the memoir later that year. The audiobook won Obama the 2020 Grammy Award for Spoken Word Album. In May 2020, the documentary Becoming, which was directed by Nadia Hallgren and includes footage chronicling her book tour to promote her memoir, was released after being highly publicized on the streaming service Netflix. As part of an effort to relieve stress on families during the COVID-19 pandemic that had begun seriously impacting the United States early that year, she had also launched a virtual series available online and supported by organizations such as PBS Kids in which, once a week for four weeks beginning in late April, she read some of her favorite children's books aloud.

In July 2020, Obama launched the Spotify exclusive podcast The Michelle Obama Podcast, during which she interviewed family, friends, and celebrities, and talked about both her personal and family life and issues important to her. In the first episode of the podcast, Obama interviewed her husband, Barack, while subsequent episodes featured such public figures as comedian Conan O'Brien and journalist Michele Norris, as well as family members including her mother and brother. In March 2021, she appeared as a presenter on the Netflix children's cooking show Waffles + Mochi, which she also executive produced. In addition to appearing on an episode of the 2022 spin-off series Waffles + Mochi's Restaurant, which was also produced by the Obamas' shared production company Higher Ground, she went on to release and tour for her second popular book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, that same year. Though Higher Ground had ended its partnership with Spotify, in early 2023 the production company premiered a new podcast for the service Audible hosted by Obama that built and expanded on that book tour, titled Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast.

Significance

As First Lady, Obama began several initiatives involving issues such as childhood obesity and support for military families. She also started a mentoring program that matched local high school girls with White House staff members. Her achievements are a testament to the power of hard work and dedication.

Bibliography

Brophy, David B. Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. Print.

Kantor, Jodi. The Obamas. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Digital file.

Mundy, Liza. Michelle: A Biography. New York: Simon, 2008. Print.

Obama, Michelle. Michelle Obama in Her Own Words: The Views and Values of America’s First Lady. Ed. Lisa Rogak. New York: Public Affairs, 2009. Print.

Padilla, Mariel. "Michelle Obama Is Reading Books to Children Stuck at Home." The New York Times, 18 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/books/michelle-obama-storytime-read-a-long-coronavirus.html. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.

Slevin, Peter. Michelle Obama: A Life. New York: Vintage, 2016. Digital file.

Vlessing, Etan. "Michelle Obama Launching Audible Podcast Based on 'The Light We Carry.'" The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2023, www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/michelle-obama-audible-the-light-podcast-the-light-we-carry-book-1235315326/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.