Middle School
Worksheets
The Life of Barack Obama
Caption: Barack Obama's official presidential portrait provided by the Obama-Biden Transition project.
On August 4, 1961, a baby was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was named Barack Hussein Obama II. His name was an African one meaning "blessed."
Obama's parents were an interracial married couple. His father, Barack Obama, was a black man from the Luo tribe of Kenya. His mother, Ann Dunham, was a white woman, originally from Kansas, but whose family had relocated to Hawaii. Obama's parents were students together at the University of Hawaii.
Obama was born a year after his parents were married, however, when Obama was only two, his dad left for Harvard University. Then he went back to Kenya. Obama stayed with his mother after the divorce. Then she got remarried to a man named Lolo Soetoro. He was from Indonesia. In 1967, the family moved there. Obama's half-sister was born in Jakarta. The area was very poor. His mother wanted to make sure Obama received a decent education. At the age of ten, Obama went to live with his grandparents back in Hawaii. His beloved grandmother was nicknamed Toot. His mother later returned home as well. He went to the Punahou School there. Obama graduated with honors in 1979.
Obama began college at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He finished his college degree in political science at Columbia University in 1983. After receiving his B.A., Obama moved to Chicago and became a community organizer. What did that mean? He worked for a nonprofit program helping the poor in the neighborhoods deal with lost jobs.
