Barack Obama

==Early life and career==
{{Main|Early life and career of Barack Obama}}

[[File:Ann Dunham with father and children.jpg|thumb|left|Obama (right) with grandfather [[Stanley Armour Dunham]], mother [[Ann Dunham]], and half-sister [[Maya Soetoro-Ng|Maya Soetoro]], mid-1970s in [[Honolulu]]|alt=Photo of a young Obama sitting on grass with his grandfather, mother, and half-sister.]]
Obama was born on August 4, 1961,<ref name="biography">{{cite web |year = 2008 |title = President Barack Obama |publisher = The White House |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama |access-date = December 12, 2008 |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026043047/http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama |archive-date=October 26, 2009 }}</ref> at [[Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children]] in [[Honolulu]], Hawaii.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 27, 2011 |title=President Obama's Long Form Birth Certificate |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate |access-date=August 4, 2023 |website=whitehouse.gov |language=en |archive-date=July 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731152530/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="birth-certificate" /><ref name="maraniss">{{cite news |author = Maraniss, David |date = August 24, 2008 |title = Though Obama had to leave to find himself, it is Hawaii that made his rise possible |newspaper = The Washington Post |page = A22 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082301620.html |access-date = October 28, 2008 |archive-date = March 28, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190328164728/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082301620.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author = Nakaso, Dan |date = December 22, 2008 |title = Twin sisters, Obama on parallel paths for years |newspaper = [[The Honolulu Advertiser]] |page = B1 |url = http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Dec/22/ln/hawaii812220320.html |access-date = January 22, 2011 |archive-date = January 29, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110129023832/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Dec/22/ln/hawaii812220320.html |url-status = live }}</ref> He is the only president born outside the [[contiguous United States|contiguous 48 states]].<ref name="BarretoO'Bryant2013">{{cite book|last1=Barreto|first1=Amílcar Antonio|first2=Richard L.|last2=O'Bryant|title=American Identity in the Age of Obama|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VQVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT18|access-date=May 8, 2017|date=November 12, 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-93715-9|pages=18–19|chapter=Introduction}}</ref> He was born to an American mother and a Kenyan father. His mother, [[Ann Dunham]] (1942–1995), was born in [[Wichita, Kansas]] and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village of [[Moneygall|Moneygall, Ireland]] to the US in 1850.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 23, 2022 |title=On This Day: US President Barack Obama arrives in Ireland for a visit |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/obama-irish-ancestor |access-date=August 2, 2022 |website=IrishCentral.com |language=en |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516195827/https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/obama-irish-ancestor |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2012, [[Ancestry.com]] found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from [[John Punch (slave)|John Punch]], an enslaved African man who lived in the [[Colony of Virginia]] during the seventeenth century.<ref name="ancestry">[http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press-releases/2012/07/ancestry.com-discovers-president-obama-related-to-first-documented-slave-in-america/ "Ancestry.com Discovers Ph Suggests"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402094350/http://corporate.ancestry.com/press/press-releases/2012/07/ancestry.com-discovers-president-obama-related-to-first-documented-slave-in-america/ |date=April 2, 2015 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]''. July 30, 2012.</ref><ref>Hennessey, Kathleen. [https://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/30/news/la-pn-obama-related-to-legendary-virginia-slave-genealogist-says-20120730 "Obama related to legendary Virginia slave, genealogists say"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305231603/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/30/news/la-pn-obama-related-to-legendary-virginia-slave-genealogist-says-20120730 |date=March 5, 2016 }}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. July 30, 2012.</ref> Obama's father, [[Barack Obama Sr.]] (1934–1982),<ref>Maraniss (2012), <span class="plainlinks">[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wnna9CLtblAC&pg=PT65 p. 65] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305141814/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wnna9CLtblAC&pg=PT65#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=March 5, 2024 }}</span>: He had been born inside the euphorbia hedges of the K'obama homestead on June 18, 1934.</ref><ref>Liberties (2012), <span class="plainlinks">[https://books.google.com/books?id=8d9NAAAAQBAJ&pg=SL1-PA202 p. 202] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305141817/https://books.google.com/books?id=8d9NAAAAQBAJ&pg=SL1-PA202#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=March 5, 2024 }}</span>: The age of his father is questionable since June 18, 1934, is on most of the documents Obama Sr. filled out for his United States student visa; however, Obama II's book ''Dreams of My Father'' states his father's birth date was June 18, 1936. Immigration and Naturalization Service records indicate the birth date to be June 18, 1934, thereby making Obama Sr. twenty-seven at the birth of Obama II instead of the annotated twenty-five on the birth certificate.</ref> was a married<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Sally |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137553552/president-obamas-father-a-bold-and-reckless-life |title=President Obama's Father: A 'Bold And Reckless Life' |publisher=NPR |date=July 6, 2011 |access-date=January 16, 2020 |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223124234/https://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137553552/president-obamas-father-a-bold-and-reckless-life |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Swaine |first=Jon |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8481779/Barack-Obamas-father-forced-out-of-US-in-1960s.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8481779/Barack-Obamas-father-forced-out-of-US-in-1960s.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Barack Obama's father 'forced out of US in 1960s' |newspaper=Telegraph |date=April 29, 2011 |access-date=January 16, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Rachel L. |last=Swarns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/nyregion/letters-by-and-about-barack-obamas-father.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618145445/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/nyregion/letters-by-and-about-barack-obamas-father.html |archive-date=June 18, 2016 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Words of Obama's Father Still Waiting to Be Read by His Son |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2016 |access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref> [[Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania|Luo Kenyan]] from [[Nyang'oma Kogelo]].<ref name="autogenerated2" /><ref>{{cite news |author=David R Arnott |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/obamas-old-school-his-ancestral-village-world-reacts-us-presidential-flna1C6912948 |title=From Obama's old school to his ancestral village, world reacts to US presidential election |work=NBC News |access-date=January 16, 2020 |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028204719/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/obamas-old-school-his-ancestral-village-world-reacts-us-presidential-flna1C6912948 |url-status=live }}</ref> His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bearak |first=Max |date=June 19, 2016 |title=The fascinating tribal tradition that gave Obama his last name |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/19/the-fascinating-tribal-tradition-that-gave-obama-his-last-name/ |access-date=November 20, 2022 |archive-date=November 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107203003/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/19/the-fascinating-tribal-tradition-that-gave-obama-his-last-name/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the [[University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa]], where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.<ref name="Jones 2007">{{cite news |author = Jones, Tim |date = March 27, 2007 |title = Barack Obama: Mother not just a girl from Kansas; Stanley Ann Dunham shaped a future senator |newspaper = [[Chicago Tribune]] |page = 1 (Tempo) |url=http://gbppr.dyndns.org/~gbpprorg/obama/barack.mother.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207112933/http://gbppr.dyndns.org/~gbpprorg/obama/barack.mother.txt |archive-date = February 7, 2017 }}</ref><ref name="Obama 1995, 2004, pp. 9–10">Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 9–10.
* Scott (2011), pp. 80–86.
* Jacobs (2011), pp. 115–118.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 154–160.</ref> The couple married in [[Wailuku, Hawaii]], on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born.<ref name="Ripley 2008">{{cite news |author = Ripley, Amanda |date = April 9, 2008 |title = The story of Barack Obama's mother |magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1729685,00.html |access-date = April 9, 2007 |archive-date = August 28, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130828141021/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1729685,00.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>Scott (2011), p. 86.
* Jacobs (2011), pp. 125–127.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 160–163.</ref>

In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the [[University of Washington]] in [[Seattle]], where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at [[Harvard University]], where he earned an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 87–93.
* Jacobs (2011), pp. 115–118, 125–127, 133–161.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 170–183, 188–189.</ref> Obama Sr. returned to [[Kenya]] in 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.<ref>Obama "Dreams from My Father a Story of Race and Inheritance"</ref> He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 142–144.
* Jacobs (2011), pp. 161–177, 227–230.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 190–194, 201–209, 227–230.</ref> before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.<ref>{{cite news |author = Ochieng, Philip |date = November 1, 2004 |title = From home squared to the US Senate: how Barack Obama was lost and found |newspaper = [[The EastAfrican]] |location = Nairobi |url = http://www.nationmedia.com/EastAfrican/01112004/Features/PA2-11.html |archive-date = September 27, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223905/http://www.nationmedia.com/EastAfrican/01112004/Features/PA2-11.html }}
* {{cite news |author = Merida, Kevin |date = December 14, 2007 |title = The ghost of a father |newspaper = The Washington Post |page = A12 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/13/ST2007121301893.html |access-date = June 25, 2008 |archive-date = August 29, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080829185447/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/13/ST2007121301893.html |url-status = live }}
* Jacobs (2011), pp. 251–255.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 411–417.</ref> Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind."<ref name="Obama 1995, 2004, pp. 9–10" /> He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.<ref>{{cite news |author = Serrano, Richard A. |date = March 11, 2007 |title = Obama's peers didn't see his angst |newspaper = Los Angeles Times |page = A20 |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamahawaii11-2007mar11,0,199085,full.story |access-date = March 13, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108080115/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamahawaii11-2007mar11,0,199085,full.story |archive-date = November 8, 2008 }}
* Obama (1995, 2004), Chapters 4 and 5.</ref>

In 1963, Dunham met [[Lolo Soetoro]] at the [[University of Hawaii]]; he was an [[Native Indonesian|Indonesian]] [[East–West Center]] [[graduate student]] in [[geography]]. The couple married on [[Molokai]] on March 15, 1965.<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 97–103.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 195–201, 225–230.</ref> After two one-year extensions of his [[J-1 visa]], Lolo returned to [[Indonesia]] in 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the [[Tebet, South Jakarta|Tebet]] district of [[South Jakarta]]. From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in the [[Menteng]] district of [[Central Jakarta]].<ref>Maraniss (2012), pp. 195–201, 209–223, 230–244.</ref>

===Education===
[[File:Barry Soetoro school record.jpg|thumb|Obama's Indonesian school record in St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School. Obama was enrolled as "Barry Soetoro" (no. 1), and was wrongly recorded as an Indonesian citizen (no. 3) and a Muslim (no. 4).<ref name="Suhartono_3/19/2010">{{Cite news|last=Suhartono|first=Anton|date=March 19, 2010|title=Sekolah di SD Asisi, Obama Berstatus Agama Islam|work=Okezone|url=https://nasional.okezone.com/read/2010/03/19/337/313977/sekolah-di-sd-asisi-obama-berstatus-agama-islam|language=Indonesian|access-date=January 21, 2021|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128041130/https://nasional.okezone.com/read/2010/03/19/337/313977/sekolah-di-sd-asisi-obama-berstatus-agama-islam|url-status=live}}</ref>|alt=Scan of Obama's elementary school record, where he is wrongly recorded as Indonesian and Muslim.]]
At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as "Barry"<ref name="Suhartono_3/19/2010" /> and attended local [[Indonesian Language|Indonesian-language]] schools: ''Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi'' (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and [[State Elementary School Menteng 01|''Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01'']] (State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-language [[Calvert School]] homeschooling by his mother.<ref>Maraniss (2012), pp. 216, 221, 230, 234–244.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.calverteducation.com/calvert/barack-obama-calvert-homeschooler |title = Barack Obama: Calvert Homeschooler?—Calvert Education Blog |publisher = calverteducation.com |access-date = November 25, 2015 |date = January 25, 2014 |archive-date = March 13, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170313134441/http://www.calverteducation.com/calvert/barack-obama-calvert-homeschooler |url-status = live }}</ref> As a result of his four years in [[Jakarta]], he was able to speak [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] fluently as a child.<ref name="in Jakarta" /> During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/what-barack-obama-learned-his-father-88011 |title=What Barack Obama Learned from His Father |last=Meacham |first=Jon |date=August 22, 2008 |newspaper=Newsweek |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107100237/http://www.newsweek.com/what-barack-obama-learned-his-father-88011?rx=us |archive-date=January 7, 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=January 9, 2017 }}</ref>

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, [[Madelyn Dunham|Madelyn]] and [[Stanley Armour Dunham|Stanley Dunham]]. He attended [[Punahou School]]—a private [[University-preparatory school|college preparatory school]]—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.<ref>{{cite news |author = Serafin, Peter |date = March 21, 2004 |title = Punahou grad stirs up Illinois politics |newspaper = [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |url = http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/03/21/news/story4.html |access-date = March 20, 2008 |archive-date = March 28, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190328164918/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/03/21/news/story4.html |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Scott, Janny |date = March 14, 2008 |title = A free-spirited wanderer who set Obama's path |work = The New York Times |page = A1 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14obama.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080314042735/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14obama.html |archive-date = March 14, 2008 |url-access = limited |url-status = live |access-date = November 18, 2011 }}
* Obama (1995, 2004), Chapters 3 and 4.
* Scott (2012), pp. 131–134.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 264–269.</ref> In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname "Barry" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.newsweek.com/when-barry-became-barack-84255 |title = When Barry Became Barack |last = Wolffe |first = Richard |date = March 22, 2008 |access-date = March 21, 2016 |work = [[Newsweek]] |archive-date = April 18, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100418174557/http://www.newsweek.com/id/128633 |url-status = live }}</ref> Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, [[Maya Soetoro-Ng|Maya Soetoro]], in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in [[anthropology]] at the University of Hawaii.<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 139–157.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 279–281.</ref> Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 157–194.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 279–281, 324–326.</ref> His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for [[ovarian cancer|ovarian]] and [[uterine cancer]].<ref>Scott (2011), pp. 214, 294, 317–346.</ref>

Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered&nbsp;— to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect&nbsp;— became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."<ref>{{cite news |author = Reyes, B.J. |date = February 8, 2007 |title = Punahou left lasting impression on Obama |newspaper = Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url = http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/02/08/news/story02.html |access-date = February 10, 2007 |quote = As a teenager, Obama went to parties and sometimes sought out gatherings on military bases or at the University of Hawaii that were attended mostly by blacks. |archive-date = March 28, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190328164806/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/02/08/news/story02.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Obama has also written and talked about using [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]], [[marijuana]], and [[cocaine]] during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".<ref>{{cite news|author=Elliott, Philip |agency=Associated Press |date=November 21, 2007 |title=Obama gets blunt with N.H. students |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=8A |url=http://articles.boston.com/2007-11-21/news/29233371_1_barack-obama-education-plan-campaign-trail |access-date=May 18, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407214401/http://articles.boston.com/2007-11-21/news/29233371_1_barack-obama-education-plan-campaign-trail |archive-date=April 7, 2012 }}</ref> Obama was also a member of the "Choom Gang" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana.<ref>{{cite news |last = Karl |first = Jonathan |work = ABC News |date = May 25, 2012 |title = Obama and His Pot-Smoking 'Choom Gang' |url = https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-and-his-pot-smoking-choom-gang/ |access-date = May 25, 2012 |archive-date = May 25, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120525194225/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-and-his-pot-smoking-choom-gang/ |url-status = live }}
* {{cite book |first = Barack |last = Obama |year = 2004 |orig-date = 1995 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HRCHJp-V0QUC&pg=PA93 |title = Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance |pages = 93–94 |publisher = Crown |access-date = June 3, 2016 |isbn = 978-0-307-39412-5 }}
* {{cite book |first = David |last = Maraniss |year = 2012 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Wnna9CLtblAC&q=choom |title = Barack Obama: The Story |publisher = Simon and Schuster |at = pages with "choom gang" |access-date = June 3, 2016 |isbn = 978-1-4391-6753-3 |archive-date = March 5, 2024 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240305141808/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wnna9CLtblAC&q=choom#v=snippet&q=choom&f=false |url-status = live }}
* for analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled"), see:
* {{cite news |author = Seelye, Katharine Q. |date = October 24, 2006 |title = Obama offers more variations from the norm |newspaper = The New York Times |page = A21 |url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DB173FF937A15753C1A9609C8B63 |access-date = October 29, 2006 |archive-date = May 11, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110511044339/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DB173FF937A15753C1A9609C8B63 |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Romano, Lois |date = January 3, 2007 |title = Effect of Obama's candor remains to be seen |newspaper = The Washington Post |page = A1 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201359.html |access-date = January 14, 2007 |archive-date = May 11, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080511210621/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201359.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-choice-2012-again/ |title = FRONTLINE The Choice 2012 |publisher = PBS |date = October 9, 2012 |access-date = October 29, 2012 |archive-date = October 10, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171010074023/http://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-choice-2012-again/ |url-status = live }}</ref>

''' College and research jobs '''

After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend [[Occidental College]] on a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the [[disinvestment from South Africa]] in response to that nation's policy of [[apartheid]].<ref name="Occidental" /> In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in [[Pakistan]] for three weeks.<ref name="Occidental" /> Later in 1981, he [[College transfer|transferred]] to [[Columbia University]] in New York City as a [[Junior (education year)|junior]], where he majored in [[political science]] with a specialty in [[international relations]]<ref>{{cite news |author = Boss-Bicak, Shira |date = January 2005 |title = Barack Obama '83 |magazine = Columbia College Today |issn = 0572-7820 |url=http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan05/cover.php |access-date = October 1, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905121815/http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan05/cover.php |archive-date = September 5, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in [[English literature]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/26/remarks-president-town-hall|title=Remarks by the President in Town Hall|date=June 26, 2014|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|access-date=October 15, 2016|archive-date=February 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216133246/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/26/remarks-president-town-hall|url-status=live}}</ref> and lived off-campus on West 109th Street.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://nymag.com/arts/all/approvalmatrix/approval-matrix-2012-8-27/ |title = The Approval Matrix |date = August 27, 2012 |work = New York |access-date = February 18, 2020 |archive-date = May 19, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200519005536/https://nymag.com/arts/all/approvalmatrix/approval-matrix-2012-8-27/ |url-status = live }}</ref> He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 [[Grading (education)#United States|GPA]]. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the [[Business International Corporation]], where he was a financial researcher and writer,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92337754 |title=Obama's Early Brush With Financial Markets |last=Horsley |first=Scott |date=July 9, 2008 |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=July 17, 2017 |archive-date=August 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803005930/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92337754 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author = Obama, Barack |year = 1998 |title = Curriculum vitae |publisher = The University of Chicago Law School |url=http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/obama/cv.html |archive-date = May 9, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010509024017/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/obama/cv.html |access-date = October 1, 2006 }}
* {{cite news |author = Issenberg, Sasha |date = August 6, 2008 |title = Obama shows hints of his year in global finance; Tied markets to social aid |newspaper = The Boston Globe |page = 1A |url=https://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/06/obama_shows_hints_of_his_year_in_global_finance/ |access-date = August 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091107145054/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/06/obama_shows_hints_of_his_year_in_global_finance?page=full |archive-date = November 7, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> then as a project coordinator for the [[New York Public Interest Research Group]] on the [[City College of New York]] campus for three months in 1985.<ref>{{cite news |author = Scott, Janny |date = July 30, 2007 |title = Obama's account of New York often differs from what others say |newspaper = The New York Times |page = B1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031000738/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html |archive-date=October 31, 2007 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date = July 31, 2007 }}
* Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 133–140.
* Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.</ref><ref name="Who's Who 2008">{{cite book |editor = Chassie, Karen |year = 2007 |title = Who's Who in America, 2008 |page = 3468 |place = New Providence, NJ |publisher = Marquis Who's Who |isbn = 978-0-8379-7011-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/obama-stood-out-even-during-brief-1985-nypirg-job-1.885513 |title = Obama stood out, even during brief 1985 NYPIRG job |date = November 9, 2008 |newspaper = Newsday |first = Jason |last = Fink |access-date = March 13, 2014 |archive-date = May 6, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110506062005/http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/obama-stood-out-even-during-brief-1985-nypirg-job-1.885513 |url-status = live }}</ref>

''' Community organizer and Harvard Law School '''

Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the [[Developing Communities Project]], a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in [[Roseland, Chicago|Roseland]], [[West Pullman, Chicago|West Pullman]], and [[Riverdale, Chicago|Riverdale]] on Chicago's [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]]. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.<ref name="Who's Who 2008" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lizza |first=Ryan |date=March 19, 2007 |title=The agitator: Barack Obama's unlikely political education |magazine=The New Republic |volume=236 |issue=12 |pages=22–26, 28–29 |issn=0028-6583 |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/the-agitator-barack-obamas-unlikely-political-education |access-date=August 21, 2007 |archive-date=November 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112225829/http://www.tnr.com/article/the-agitator-barack-obamas-unlikely-political-education |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |last1=Secter |first1=Bob |last2=McCormick |first2=John |date=March 30, 2007 |title=Portrait of a pragmatist |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=1 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703300121mar30-archive,0,2491692,full.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214172131/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703300121mar30-archive%2C0%2C2491692%2Cfull.story |access-date=May 18, 2012 |archive-date=December 14, 2009 |url-status=dead }}
* Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 140–295.
* Mendell (2007), pp. 63–83.</ref> He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in [[Altgeld Gardens Homes (Chicago, Illinois)|Altgeld Gardens]].<ref name="Harvard Law 1990a">{{cite news |last = Matchan |first = Linda |date = February 15, 1990 |title = A Law Review breakthrough |newspaper = The Boston Globe |page = 29 |url = https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/1990/02/15/a_law_review_breakthrough |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = January 22, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090122000920/http://boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/1990/02/15/a_law_review_breakthrough/ |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |last = Corr |first = John |date = February 27, 1990 |title = From mean streets to hallowed halls |newspaper = The Philadelphia Inquirer |page = C01 |format = paid archive |url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=PI%7CDN%7C&p_product=PHNP&p_theme=phnp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Author%28John%20Corr%29%20AND%20date%2802%2F27%2F1990%20to%2002%2F27%2F1990%29%20AND%20date%28all%29&p_field_advanced-0=Author&p_text_advanced-0=%28John%20Corr%29&p_bool_advanced-1=AND&p_params_advanced-1=date%3AB%2CE&p_field_advanced-1=YMD_date&p_text_advanced-1=%2802%2F27%2F1990%20to%2002%2F27%2F1990%29%C3%8Al_numdocs%3D20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date%3AD%C3%8Al_useweights%3Dno |access-date = June 6, 2008 |archive-date = August 28, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190828224400/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=PI%7CDN%7C&p_product=PHNP&p_theme=phnp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=Author%28John%20Corr%29%20AND%20date%2802/27/1990%20to%2002/27/1990%29%20AND%20date%28all%29&p_field_advanced-0=Author&p_text_advanced-0=%28John%20Corr%29&p_bool_advanced-1=AND&p_params_advanced-1=date:B,E&p_field_advanced-1=YMD_date&p_text_advanced-1=%2802/27/1990%20to%2002/27/1990%29%C3%8Al_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D%C3%8Al_useweights=no |url-status = live }}</ref> Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the [[Gamaliel Foundation]], a community organizing institute.<ref>{{cite magazine |last = Obama |first = Barack |date = August–September 1988 |title = Why organize? Problems and promise in the inner city |magazine = Illinois Issues |volume = 14 |issue = 8–9 |pages = 40–42 |issn = 0738-9663 }} reprinted in:{{break}}{{cite book |editor = Knoepfle, Peg |year = 1990 |title = After Alinsky: community organizing in Illinois |place = Springfield, IL |publisher = Sangamon State University |pages = 35–40 |isbn = 978-0-9620873-3-2 |quote = He has also been a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, an organizing institute working throughout the Midwest. }}</ref> In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in [[Europe]] for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his [[Jael Obama|paternal relatives]] for the first time.<ref name="Obama 2012">{{cite book |last = Obama |first = Auma |year = 2012 |title = And then life happens: a memoir |location = New York |publisher = St. Martin's Press |isbn = 978-1-250-01005-6 |pages = 189–208, 212–216 }}</ref><ref>Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 299–437.
* Maraniss (2012), pp. 564–570.</ref>
{{external media | float = right | video1 = [http://bostonlocaltv.org/catalog/V_UDAMVZGA4JEY06N Derrick Bell threatens to leave Harvard], April 24, 1990, 11:34, [[WGBH Educational Foundation|Boston TV Digital Archive]]<ref name="wgbh">{{cite news |url=http://bostonlocaltv.org/catalog/V_UDAMVZGA4JEY06N |title=Ten O'Clock News; Derrick Bell threatens to leave Harvard |date=April 24, 1990 |work=[[WGBH Educational Foundation|WGBH]], [[American Archive of Public Broadcasting]] |publisher=WGBH and the [[Library of Congress]] |location=Boston and Washington, D.C. |access-date=September 23, 2016 |archive-date=November 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108075226/http://bostonlocaltv.org/catalog/V_UDAMVZGA4JEY06N |url-status=live }}</ref> Student Barack Obama introduces Professor Derrick Bell starting at 6:25. }}

Despite being offered a full scholarship to [[Northwestern University School of Law]], Obama enrolled at [[Harvard Law School]] in the fall of 1988, living in nearby [[Somerville, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Somerville Scout |issue=January/February 2014 |page=26 |title=Something in the Water |url=https://scoutsomerville.com/feature-something-in-the-water/ |author1=Joey Del Ponte |author2=Somerville Scout Staff |quote=Barack Obama lived in the big, ivy-covered brick building at 365 Broadway{{spaces}}... From 1988 to 1991, the future president resided in a basement apartment while attending Harvard Law School. |access-date=January 1, 2020 |archive-date=January 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101163528/https://scoutsomerville.com/feature-something-in-the-water/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was selected as an editor of the ''[[Harvard Law Review]]'' at the end of his first year,<ref name="Harvard Law 2007">{{cite news |first1 = Michael |last1 = Levenson |first2 = Jonathan |last2 = Saltzman |date = January 28, 2007 |title = At Harvard Law, a unifying voice |newspaper = Boston Globe |page = 1A |url = http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/ |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = August 3, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160803042245/http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/ |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Kantor, Jodi |date = January 28, 2007 |title = In law school, Obama found political voice |newspaper = The New York Times |page = A1 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070307091848/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html |archive-date = March 7, 2007 |url-access = limited |url-status = live |access-date = June 15, 2008 }}
* {{cite news |author = Mundy, Liza |date = August 12, 2007 |title = A series of fortunate events |newspaper = The Washington Post |page = W10 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802038_pf.html |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = August 14, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070814185300/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802038_pf.html |url-status = live }}
* Mendell (2007), pp. 80–92.</ref> president of the journal in his second year,<ref name="Harvard Law 1990a" /><ref name="Harvard Law 1990b">{{cite news |author = Butterfield, Fox |date = February 6, 1990 |title = First black elected to head Harvard's Law Review |newspaper = The New York Times |page = A20 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = April 10, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080410210514/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DC1631F935A35751C0A966958260 |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Ybarra, Michael J |date = February 7, 1990 |title = Activist in Chicago now heads Harvard Law Review |newspaper = Chicago Tribune |page = 3 |url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-02-07-9001110408-story.html |access-date = October 29, 2011 |archive-date = October 22, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232657/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-02-07-9001110408-story.html |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Drummond, Tammerlin |date = March 12, 1990 |title = Barack Obama's law; Harvard Law Review's first black president plans a life of public service |newspaper = Los Angeles Times |page = E1 |format = paid archive |url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60017156.html?dids=60017156:60017156&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = June 17, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080617150504/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60017156.html?dids=60017156:60017156&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT |url-status = dead }}
* {{cite magazine |last = Evans |first = Gaynelle |date = March 15, 1990 |title = Opening another door: The saga of Harvard's Barack H. Obama |magazine = Black Issues in Higher Education |volume = 7 |issue = 1 |page = 5 |issn = 0742-0277 |url = https://diverseeducation.com/article/11791/ |access-date = May 18, 2012 |archive-date = May 20, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120520143753/http://diverseeducation.com/article/11791/ |url-status = live }}
* {{cite news |author = Pugh, Allison J. |agency = Associated Press |date = April 18, 1990 |title = Law Review's first black president aims to help poor |newspaper = The Miami Herald |page = C01 |url = https://allisonpugh.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/7/8/44787215/miami_herald__22law_review_president_22.pdf |access-date = January 1, 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200101145727/https://allisonpugh.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/7/8/44787215/miami_herald__22law_review_president_22.pdf |archive-date = January 1, 2020 |url-status = live }}</ref> and research assistant to the constitutional scholar [[Laurence Tribe]] while at Harvard.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Obama Made A Strong First Impression At Harvard |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/05/22/153214284/obamas-harvard-days-began-with-exclamation-point |access-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220014856/https://www.npr.org/2012/05/22/153214284/obamas-harvard-days-began-with-exclamation-point |url-status=live }}</ref> During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as a [[Associate attorney#Summer associates|summer associate]] at the law firms of [[Sidley Austin]] in 1989 and [[Hopkins & Sutter]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite news |author = Aguilar, Louis |date = July 11, 1990 |title = Survey: Law firms slow to add minority partners |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929145015/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/28774085.html?dids=28774085:28774085&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT |archive-date=September 29, 2008 |newspaper = Chicago Tribune |page = 1 (Business) |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/28774085.html?dids=28774085:28774085&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT |access-date = June 15, 2008 }}</ref> Obama's election as the [[List of African-American firsts|first black president of the ''Harvard Law Review'']] gained national media attention<ref name="Harvard Law 1990a" /><ref name="Harvard Law 1990b" /> and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,<ref name="Scott 2008a">{{cite news |author = Scott, Janny |date = May 18, 2008 |title = The story of Obama, written by Obama |newspaper = The New York Times |page = A1 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us/politics/18memoirs.html |access-date = June 15, 2008 |archive-date = April 1, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090401222500/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us/politics/18memoirs.html |url-status = live }}
* Obama (1995, 2004), pp. xiii–xvii.</ref> which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as ''[[Dreams from My Father]]''.<ref name="Scott 2008a" /> Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with a [[Juris Doctor]] ''[[Latin honors|magna cum laude]]''.<ref name="Juris Doctor" /><ref name="Harvard Law 2007" />

''' University of Chicago Law School '''

In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the [[University of Chicago Law School]] to work on his first book.<ref name="Scott 2008a" /><ref name="Fellow" /> He then taught [[constitutional law]] at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.<ref>{{cite web |date = March 27, 2008 |title = Statement regarding Barack Obama |publisher = University of Chicago Law School |url = http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html |access-date = June 5, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608225931/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html |archive-date = June 8, 2008 |url-status = dead }}
* {{cite web |last=Miller |first=Joe |date=March 28, 2008 |title=Was Barack Obama really a constitutional law professor? |work=FactCheck.org |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/obama-a-constitutional-law-professor/ |access-date=May 18, 2012 |archive-date=May 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516200322/http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/obama-a-constitutional-law-professor/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite web |last=Holan |first=Angie Drobnic |date=March 7, 2008 |title=Obama's 20 years of experience |work=PolitiFact.com |url=https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/mar/07/obamas-20-years-experience/ |access-date=June 10, 2008 |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515194211/http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/mar/07/obamas-20-years-experience/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's [[Project Vote]], a [[voter registration campaign]] with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading ''[[Crain's Chicago Business]]'' to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.<ref name="Forty" />

===Family and personal life===
{{Main|Family of Barack Obama}}

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of [[family of Barack Obama|his extended family]]: "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like [[Bernie Mac]], and I've got relatives who look like [[Margaret Thatcher]]."<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20061018/10 |title = Keeping Hope Alive: Barack Obama Puts Family First |date = October 18, 2006 |website = The Oprah Winfrey Show |access-date = June 24, 2008 |archive-date = April 17, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090417020958/http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20061018/10 |url-status = live }}</ref> Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living.<ref>{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Fornek |title=Half Siblings: 'A Complicated Family' |date=September 9, 2007 |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545462,BSX-News-wotrees09.stng |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5msGZ6sKn?url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545462,BSX-News-wotrees09.stng |archive-date=January 18, 2010 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=June 24, 2008 |url-status=dead}} See also: {{cite news |url=http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/special/family_tree.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703042659/http://www.suntimes.com/images/cds/special/family_tree.html |archive-date=July 3, 2008 |title=Interactive Family Tree |date=September 9, 2007 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=June 24, 2008 }}</ref> Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,<ref>{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Fornek |title=Madelyn Payne Dunham: 'A Trailblazer' |date=September 9, 2007 |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545449,BSX-News-wotreeee09.stng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304232433/http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545449,BSX-News-wotreeee09.article |archive-date=March 4, 2009 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=June 24, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> until her death on November 2, 2008,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/obama.grandma/index.html |title = Obama's grandmother dies after battle with cancer |publisher = CNN |access-date = November 4, 2008 |date = November 3, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081103235343/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/obama.grandma/index.html |archive-date = November 3, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/tracing-barack-obamas-roo_b_859151.html |title = Tracing Barack Obama's Roots to Moneygall |date = May 9, 2011 |work = The Huffington Post |first = Megan |last = Smolenyak |access-date = February 18, 2020 |archive-date = September 15, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915183446/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/tracing-barack-obamas-roo_b_859151.html |url-status = live }}</ref> In ''Dreams from My Father'', Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of [[Jefferson Davis]], [[President of the Confederate States of America]] during the [[American Civil War]]. He also shares distant ancestors in common with [[George W. Bush]] and [[Dick Cheney]], among others.<ref>Obama (1995, 2004), p. 13. For reports on Obama's maternal genealogy, including slave owners, Irish connections, and common ancestors with George W. Bush, [[Dick Cheney]], and [[Harry S. Truman]], see: {{cite news|first1=David |last1=Nitkin |first2=Harry |last2=Merritt |title=A New Twist to an Intriguing Family History |date=March 2, 2007 |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/politics/bal-te.obama02mar02,0,3453027.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033339/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/politics/bal-te.obama02mar02%2C0%2C3453027.story |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=June 24, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Mary |last=Jordan |title=Tiny Irish Village Is Latest Place to Claim Obama as Its Own |date=May 13, 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201551.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405183959/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201551.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Obama's Family Tree Has a Few Surprises |date=September 8, 2007 |publisher=CBS 2 (Chicago) |url=http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Barack.Obama.family.2.339709.html |agency=Associated Press |access-date=June 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602215833/http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Barack.Obama.family.2.339709.html |archive-date=June 2, 2008 }}</ref>

Obama lived with anthropologist [[Sheila Miyoshi Jager]] while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.<ref name="theindependentbeforemichelle">{{cite news|last1=Hosie|first1=Rachel|title=Before Michelle: The story of Barack Obama's proposal to Sheila Miyoshi Jager|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/before-michelle-barack-obama-sheila-miyoshi-jager-engagement-chicago-us-president-david-j-garrow-a7714771.html|access-date=May 11, 2017|work=The Independent|date=May 3, 2017|archive-date=May 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509133231/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/before-michelle-barack-obama-sheila-miyoshi-jager-engagement-chicago-us-president-david-j-garrow-a7714771.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.<ref name="theindependentbeforemichelle" /><ref name="tobiasoberlincollegeprofessor">{{cite news|last1=Tobias|first1=Andrew J.|title=Oberlin College professor received unsuccessful marriage proposal from Barack Obama in 1980s, new biography reveals|url=http://www.cleveland.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/oberlin_college_professor_rece.html|access-date=May 11, 2017|work=The Plain Dealer|date=May 3, 2017|archive-date=May 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503220931/http://www.cleveland.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/oberlin_college_professor_rece.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended.<ref name="tobiasoberlincollegeprofessor" />

[[File:Obama family portrait in the Green Room.jpg|thumb|Obama poses in the [[Green Room (White House)|Green Room]] of the White House with wife [[Michelle Obama|Michelle]] and daughters Sasha and Malia, 2009.|alt=Picture of Obama, his wife, and their two daughters smiling at the camera. Obama wears a dress shirt and tie.]]
In June 1989, Obama met [[Michelle Obama|Michelle Robinson]] when he was employed at Sidley Austin.<ref>Obama (2006), pp. 327–332. See also: {{cite news |first = Sarah |last = Brown |title = Obama '85 masters balancing act |work = The Daily Princetonian |url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2005/12/07/14049 |date = December 7, 2005 |access-date = February 9, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220165725/http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2005/12/07/14049/ |archive-date = February 20, 2009 }}</ref> Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.<ref>Obama (2006), p. 329.</ref> They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.<ref>{{cite news |author=Fornek, Scott |title=Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet' |date=October 3, 2007 |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/585261,CST-NWS-wedding03.stng |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208051056/http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/585261,CST-NWS-wedding03.stng |archive-date=December 8, 2009 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |access-date=April 28, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwent [[in vitro fertilization]] to conceive their children.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/michelle-obama-had-miscarriage-used-ivf-conceive-girls/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/09/michelle-obama-had-miscarriage-used-ivf-conceive-girls/ |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Michelle Obama had miscarriage, used IVF to conceive girls|first=Ben|last=Riley-Smith|date=November 9, 2018|access-date=November 15, 2018|newspaper=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Born_on_the_4th_of_July.html |title = Born on the 4th of July |date = July 4, 2008 |access-date = July 10, 2008 |work = Politico |last = Martin |first = Jonathan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080710073536/http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Born_on_the_4th_of_July.html |archive-date = July 10, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.<ref>Obama (1995, 2004), p. 440, and Obama (2006), pp. 339–340. See also: {{cite web |title = Election 2008 Information Center: Barack Obama |url = http://www.gannettnewsservice.com/?cat=153 |publisher = Gannett News Service |access-date = April 28, 2008 |archive-date = February 21, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090221030722/http://www.gannettnewsservice.com/?cat=153 |url-status = live }}</ref> The Obama daughters attended the [[University of Chicago Laboratory Schools]]. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the [[Sidwell Friends School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/22/america/Obama-School.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129194323/http://iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/22/america/Obama-School.php |title = Obamas choose private Sidwell Friends School |website = International Herald Tribune |date = November 22, 2008 |access-date = July 2, 2015 |archive-date = January 29, 2009 }}</ref> The Obamas had two [[Portuguese Water Dog]]s; the first, a male named [[Bo (dog)|Bo]], was a gift from Senator [[Ted Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/politics/13obama.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416023426/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/politics/13obama.html |archive-date=April 16, 2009 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title = One Obama Search Ends With a Puppy Named Bo |work = The New York Times |date = April 13, 2009 |access-date = December 22, 2010 |first = Helene |last = Cooper }}</ref> In 2013, Bo was joined by [[Sunny (dog)|Sunny]], a female.<ref name=Feldmann>{{Cite journal |last = Feldmann |first = Linda |title = New little girl arrives at White House. Meet Sunny Obama. (+video) |url = http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2013/0820/New-little-girl-arrives-at-White-House.-Meet-Sunny-Obama.-video |journal = Christian Science Monitor |access-date = August 20, 2013 |date = August 20, 2013 |archive-date = December 19, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131219041430/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2013/0820/New-little-girl-arrives-at-White-House.-Meet-Sunny-Obama.-video |url-status = live }}</ref> Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wang|first=Amy|date=May 8, 2021|title=Obamas announce death of dog Bo, 'a true friend and loyal companion'|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/05/08/obama-dog-bo-dies/|access-date=May 8, 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-date=May 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509011516/https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/05/08/obama-dog-bo-dies/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Obama is a supporter of the [[Chicago White Sox]], and he threw out the first pitch at the [[2005 American League Championship Series|2005 ALCS]] when he was still a senator.<ref>{{cite news |title = Barack Obama: White Sox 'serious' ball |date = August 25, 2008 |first = Mark |last = Silva |work = Chicago Tribune |url=http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/barack_obama_white_sox_serious.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829134235/http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/barack_obama_white_sox_serious.html |archive-date = August 29, 2008 }}</ref> In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the [[2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] while wearing a White Sox jacket.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obama throws ceremonial first pitch at All-Star game |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/14/obama.pitch/index.html |access-date=December 20, 2022 |website=CNN Politics |archive-date=December 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222030149/https://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/14/obama.pitch/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He is also primarily a [[Chicago Bears]] football fan in the [[National Football League|NFL]], but in his childhood and adolescence was a [[Steeler Nation|fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers]], and rooted for them ahead of their victory in [[Super Bowl XLIII]] 12 days after he took office as president.<ref name="Steelers">{{cite news |last = Branigin |first = William |title = Steelers Win Obama's Approval |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = January 30, 2009 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012903196.html |quote = But other than the Bears, the Steelers are probably the team that's closest to my heart. |access-date = August 21, 2017 |archive-date = August 5, 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170805181455/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012903196.html |url-status = live }}</ref> In 2011, Obama invited the [[1985 Chicago Bears season|1985 Chicago Bears]] to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their [[Super Bowl XX|Super Bowl win]] in 1986 due to the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]].<ref>{{cite web |last = Mayer |first = Larry |url=http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/85-Bears-honored-by-President-Obama-at-White-House/A3C494F7-6681-44BB-850A-61EEE18315E4 |title = 1985 Bears honored by President Obama |publisher = [[Chicago Bears]] |date = October 7, 2011 |access-date = November 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507094538/http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/85-Bears-honored-by-President-Obama-at-White-House/A3C494F7-6681-44BB-850A-61EEE18315E4 |archive-date = May 7, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,<ref>{{cite news |first = Jodi |last = Kantor |title = One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow |date = June 1, 2007 |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/us/politics/01hoops.html |work = The New York Times |access-date = April 28, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090401222632/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/us/politics/01hoops.html |archive-date = April 1, 2009 |url-status = live }} See also: {{cite news |title = The Love of the Game |format = video |date = April 15, 2008 |work = Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel |publisher = HBO |url = http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes#/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes/0/133-april-15-2008/index.html |access-date = October 12, 2011 |archive-date = October 16, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111016014443/http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes#/real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel/episodes/0/133-april-15-2008/index.html |url-status = live }}</ref> and he is left-handed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22obama.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123145020/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/us/politics/22obama.html |archive-date=January 23, 2009 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title = On First Day, Obama Quickly Sets a New Tone |last = Stolberg |first = Sheryl Gay |author2 = Kirkpatrick, David D. |author3 = Shane, Scott |date = January 22, 2009 |work = The New York Times |page = 1 |access-date = September 7, 2012 }}</ref>

In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a [[Hyde Park, Chicago]] condominium to a $1.6{{spaces}}million house (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1.6|2005|r=1}}{{spaces}}million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) in neighboring [[Kenwood, Chicago]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Jeff |last=Zeleny |title=The first time around: Sen. Obama's freshman year |date=December 24, 2005 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051224obama,0,1779783,full.story |work=Chicago Tribune |access-date=April 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513214525/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051224obama%2C0%2C1779783%2Cfull.story |archive-date=May 13, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend [[Tony Rezko]]—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.<ref name="corruption charges" />

In December 2007, ''[[Money (magazine)|Money Magazine]]'' estimated Obama's net worth at $1.3{{spaces}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|1.3|2007|r=1}}{{spaces}}million in {{Inflation-year|US}}).<ref>{{cite news |title = Obama's Money |date = December 7, 2007 |url = https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0712/gallery.candidates.moneymag/5.html |publisher = [[CNNMoney]] |access-date = April 28, 2008 |first = Marlys |last = Harris |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080424113420/https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0712/gallery.candidates.moneymag/5.html |archive-date = April 24, 2008 |url-status = live }}{{break}}See also:{{cite news |first = Zachary A |last = Goldfarb |title = Measuring Wealth of the '08 Candidates |date = March 24, 2007 |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400305.html |newspaper = The Washington Post |access-date = April 28, 2008 |archive-date = December 12, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181212171951/https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0712/gallery.candidates.moneymag/5.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5{{spaces}}million—up from about $4.2{{spaces}}million in 2007 and $1.6{{spaces}}million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.<ref>{{cite news |first = Jeff |last = Zeleny |title = Book Sales Lifted Obamas' Income in 2007 to a Total of $4.2 Million |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/politics/17obama.html |date = April 17, 2008 |work = The New York Times |access-date = April 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416015848/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/politics/17obama.html|archive-date=April 16, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041504485.html |title = Obamas report $5.5 million in income on 2009 tax return |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = April 16, 2010 |access-date = December 22, 2010 |first1 = Michael D. |last1 = Shear |first2 = David S. |last2 = Hilzenrath |archive-date = January 26, 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110126061654/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041504485.html |url-status = live }}</ref> On his 2010 income of $1.7{{spaces}}million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to [[Fisher House Foundation]], a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2011/04/how-much-did-president-obama-m.html |date = April 18, 2011 |title = How Much Did President Obama Make in 2010? |work = [[PBS NewsHour]] |first = Paul |last = Solman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502113725/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2011/04/how-much-did-president-obama-m.html |archive-date = May 2, 2011 |access-date = January 27, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/the-obamas-gave-131000-to-the-fisher-house-foundation-last-year-what-is-it.html |date = April 27, 2011 |title = The Obamas Gave $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation in 2010; What Is It? |work = [[PBS NewsHour]] |first = Paul |last = Solman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140129072652/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/the-obamas-gave-131000-to-the-fisher-house-foundation-last-year-what-is-it.html |archive-date = January 29, 2014 |access-date = January 27, 2012 }}</ref> Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10{{spaces}}million.<ref name="networth12">{{cite news |url = http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/obama-worth-as-much-as-10-million/1 |title = Obama worth as much as $10 million |last = Wolf |first = Richard |date = May 16, 2012 |work = [[USA Today]] |access-date = June 16, 2012 |archive-date = May 16, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120516010755/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/obama-worth-as-much-as-10-million/1 |url-status = live }}</ref>

===Religious views===
Obama is a [[Protestant]] Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life.<ref name="Christian" /> He wrote in ''[[The Audacity of Hope]]'' that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person{{nbsp}}... I have ever known", and "a lonely witness for [[secular humanism]]." He described his father as a "confirmed [[Atheism|atheist]]" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with [[black church]]es as a [[Community organizing|community organizer]] while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."<ref name="social change" />
[[File:Obamas at church on Inauguration Day 2013.jpg|thumb|The Obamas worship at [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]] in Washington, D.C., January 2013|alt=Obama and his wife standing in a crowded Church, looking forward, with their mouths open mid-sentence while reciting a prayer.]]

In January 2008, Obama told ''[[Christianity Today]]'': "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the [[Redeemer (Christianity)|redemptive death]] and [[resurrection of Jesus Christ]]. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."<ref>{{cite news |last1 = Pulliam |first1 = Sarah |last2 = Olsen |first2 = Ted |url = http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/104-32.0.html?start=2 |title = Q&A: Barack Obama |work = Christianity Today |date = January 23, 2008 |access-date = January 4, 2013 |archive-date = April 28, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190428085526/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/104-32.0.html?start=2 |url-status = live }}</ref> On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying:

{{blockquote|I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of [[Jesus Christ]] spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, [[Golden Rule|treating others as they would treat me]].<ref name="APbychoice">{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/obama-christian-by-choice_n_742124.html|title=Obama 'Christian By Choice': President Responds To Questioner|last1=Babington|first1=Charles|last2=Superville|first2=Darlene|agency=Associated Press|date=September 28, 2010|work=The Huffington Post|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511232554/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/obama-christian-by-choice_n_742124.html|archive-date=May 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name="ABCVideobychoice">{{cite news|url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/09/president-obama-i-am-a-christian-by-choicethe-precepts-of-jesus-spoke-to-me.html|title=President Obama: 'I am a Christian By Choice ... The Precepts of Jesus Spoke to Me'|work=[[ABC News]]|date=September 29, 2010|access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713041729/http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/09/president-obama-i-am-a-christian-by-choicethe-precepts-of-jesus-spoke-to-me/|archive-date=July 13, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

Obama met [[Trinity United Church of Christ]] pastor [[Jeremiah Wright]] in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.<ref name="Trinity" /> During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity after [[Jeremiah Wright controversy|some of Wright's statements were criticized]].<ref>{{cite news |agency = Associated Press |date = November 17, 2008 |title = Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized |work = NBC News |url = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/27775757 |access-date = January 20, 2009 |archive-date = March 21, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130321122023/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27775757/ |url-status = live }}</ref> Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including [[Shiloh Baptist Church (Washington, D.C.)|Shiloh Baptist Church]] and [[St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square|St. John's Episcopal Church]], as well as Evergreen Chapel at [[Camp David]], but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis.<ref>{{cite news |last=Parker |first=Ashley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/us/as-the-obamas-celebrate-christmas-rituals-of-faith-stay-on-the-sidelines.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230064130/http://www.nytimes.com//2013/12/29/us/as-the-obamas-celebrate-christmas-rituals-of-faith-stay-on-the-sidelines.html |archive-date=December 30, 2013 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=As the Obamas Celebrate Christmas, Rituals of Faith Become Less Visible |work=The New York Times |date=December 28, 2013 |access-date=January 15, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gilgoff |first=Dan |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/06/30/time-report-white-house-reaction-raise-more-questions-about-obamas-church-hunt |title=TIME Report, White House Reaction Raise More Questions About Obama's Church Hunt |work=U.S. News & World Report |date=June 30, 2009 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |archive-date=June 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625064319/https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/06/30/time-report-white-house-reaction-raise-more-questions-about-obamas-church-hunt |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/04/22/first-lady-we-use-sundays-for-naps-if-were-not-going-to-church/ |title=First Lady: We Use Sundays For Naps If We're Not Going To Church |publisher=CBS DC |agency=Associated Press |date=April 22, 2014 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |archive-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116174238/http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/04/22/first-lady-we-use-sundays-for-naps-if-were-not-going-to-church/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him "of all the different people I've met along the way", adding: "I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times." The items, "a whole bowl full", include rosary beads given to him by [[Pope Francis]], a figurine of the Hindu deity [[Hanuman]], a [[Coptic cross]] from Ethiopia, a small [[Buddha statue]] given by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa.<ref>{{cite news |title=Revealed: Obama always carries Hanuman statuette in pocket |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/Revealed-Obama-always-carries-Hanuman-statuette-in-pocket/article14001552.ece |access-date=April 8, 2021 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=January 16, 2016 |language=en-IN |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414074305/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/Revealed-Obama-always-carries-Hanuman-statuette-in-pocket/article14001552.ece |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Obama Reveals Personal Faith-Related Items, Including Rosary Beads, Buddha Statuette |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/obama-reveals-personal-faith-related-items-including-rosary-beads-buddha-n497681 |access-date=December 20, 2022 |website=NBC News |date=January 15, 2016 |language=en |archive-date=December 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220013126/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/obama-reveals-personal-faith-related-items-including-rosary-beads-buddha-n497681 |url-status=live }}</ref>