Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinoisfrom 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senatorfrom 1997 to 2004.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was born to an American mother of European descent and an African father.
After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black person to head the Harvard Law Review.
After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district from 1997 until 2004 in the Illinois Senate, when he ran for the U.S. Senate.
In 2009, Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, and the first black man to to sit on the reverend seat of power in the White House.
Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in office. The main reforms that were passed include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as the “Affordable Care Act” or “Obamacare”), the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010.
Obama’s presidency has generally been regarded favorably, and evaluations of his presidency among historians, political scientists, and the general public place him among the upper tier of American presidents. Obama left office and retired in January 2017.
Notable amongst the awards and recognitions received by Obama was he was the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Barack Obama’s emergence as the U.S. President was the testimonial of the lingering dream of Late Martin Luther King (Jr.), who emphasized then that some day, a black man will rule the Americans.
