Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, to Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian (née Shields), a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store. Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school. The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Specifically, she is descended from the Gullah people of South Carolina's Lowcountry region. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina,  where some of her paternal family still reside.  Her maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields, also a slave, became pregnant by a white man. His name and the nature of their union have been lost. She gave birth to Michelle's biracial maternal great-great-grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields. Some of her distant ancestry also includes Irish and other European roots.

Michelle grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago's South Shore community area. Her parents rented a small apartment on the house's second floor from her great-aunt, who lived downstairs. She was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table". The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading. They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church. The Robinsons used to vacation in a rustic cabin in White Cloud, Michigan. She and her 21-month older brother, Craig, skipped the second grade. Her brother is now the men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">

She attended Whitney Young High School,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-West_20-0"> Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOSS_18-1"> The round trip commute from the Robinsons' South Side home to the Near West Side, where the school was located, took three hours.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-tn_21-0"> She was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-womanbehind_4-2"> Michelle graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-tn_21-1">

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PAW2009_5-1"> Craig graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FWtWMO_22-0"> As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24"> "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-tn_21-2"> While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center which also included after school tutoring.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Biography_Today_25-0"> Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-womanbehind_4-3"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26"> She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Princetonian_27-0"> At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Newsweek20080225_28-0"> and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29"> She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-VLiCBTO_30-0"> In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-celebrate_31-0">

She met Barack Obama when they were among the few African Americans at their law firm, Sidley Austin (she has sometimes said only two, although others have pointed out there were others in different departments),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-WMMB_32-0"> and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOCT_33-0"> Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOHSMOMF_34-0"> The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-35"> They married in October 1992,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOHSMOMF_34-1"> and have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Newsweek2007_36-0"> After his election to the U.S. Senate, the Obama family continued to live on Chicago's South Side, choosing to remain there rather than moving to Washington, D.C. Throughout her husband's 2008 campanine, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week – to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PasadenaWeekly_37-0">

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FLIW_17-1"> Now, Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOIGaLM_38-0"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOSHR_39-0"> The marital relationship has had its ebbs and flows; the combination of an evolving family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-40"> However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-41">

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-42"> As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PAW2009_5-2"> Malia and Sasha now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sidwell_43-0"> Michelle stated in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that they do not intend to have any more children.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-45"> The Obamas have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton about raising children in the White House.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JOMF_44-1"> Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, has moved into the White House to assist with child care.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOSWW_46-0">

Career
Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-womanbehind_4-4"> She continues to hold her law license, but as she no longer needs it for her work, it has been on a voluntary inactive status since 1993.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-47"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-48">

In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-West_20-1"> She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood 12 years after she left.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOSS_18-2">

In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UCChron96_49-0"> In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-UChicago2005_50-0"> She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part-time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ABCNews20080124_51-0"> she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-blaze_52-0"> According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, her salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The Obamas' total income, however, was $991,296, which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOChw_53-0">

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-TreeHouse_54-0"> a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-SunTimesBlog200705_55-0"> She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ChicagoCouncil_56-0">

2008 Presidential election
Although Obama has campaigned on her husband's behalf since early in his political career by handshaking and fund-raising, she did not relish the activity at first. When she campaigned during her husband's 2000 run for United States House of Representatives, her boss at the University of Chicago asked if there was any single thing about campaigning that she enjoyed; after some thought, she replied that visiting so many living rooms had given her some new decorating ideas.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT0825_57-0">

At first, Obama had reservations about her husband's presidential campaign, due to fears about a possible negative effect on their daughters.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MONYT_58-0"> She says that she negotiated an agreement in which her husband was to give up smoking in exchange for her support of his decision to run.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOoCF_59-0"> About her role in her husband's presidential campaign she has said: "My job is not a senior adviser."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOIGaLM_38-1"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOpuric_60-0"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-61"> During the campaign, she has discussed race and education by using motherhood as a framework.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FWtWMO_22-1">

In May 2007, three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by 80 percent to support his presidential campaig <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FLIW_17-2"> Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and traveled overnight only if their daughters could come along;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOMtBOD2008C_3-1"> by early February 2008 her participation had increased significantly, attending thirty-three events in eight days.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOSHR_39-1"> She made several campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-62"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-63"> She wrote her own stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-tn_21-3">

Throughout the campaign, some media often labeled her as an "angry black woman,"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AAMOLfaNI_64-0"> and some web sites attempted to propagate this image,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MUM_67-0"> prompting her to respond: "Barack and I have been in the public eye for many years now, and we've developed a thick skin along the way. When you’re out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-68"> By the time of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August, media outlets observed that her presence on the campaign trail had grown softer than at the start of the race, focusing on soliciting concerns and empathizing with the audience rather than throwing down challenges to them, and giving interviews to shows like The View and publications like Ladies' Home Journal rather than appearing on news programs. The change was even reflected in her fashion choices, wearing more informal clothes in place of her previous designer pieces.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT0825_57-1"> The View appearance was partly intended to help soften her public image,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AAMOLfaNI_64-1"> and it was widely-covered in the press.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-69">

The presidential campaign was her first exposure to the national political scene; even before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two, she was considered the least famous of the candidates' spouses.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOpuric_60-1"> Early in the campaign, she told anecdotes about the Obama family life; however, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, she toned it down.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOChw_53-1"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOoCF_59-1"> New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote: I wince a bit when Michelle Obama chides her husband as a mere mortal – comic routine that rests on the presumption that we see him as a god ... But it may not be smart politics to mock him in a way that turns him from the glam JFK into the mundane Gerled Ford, toasting his own English muffin. If all Senator Obama is peddling is the Cemelot mystique, why debunk this mystique?<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-MOpuric_60-2"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-70"> On the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Craig Robinson introduced his younger sister.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-71"> She delivered her speech, during which she sought to portray herself and her family as the embodiment of the American Dream.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT0826_72-0"> Obama said both she and her husband believed "that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NPR0826_73-0"> She also emphasized loving her country, in response to criticism for her previous statements about feeling proud of her country for the first time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NYT0826_72-1"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CST0826_74-0"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-BG0826_75-0"> That keynote address was largely well received and drew mostly positive reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-76"> A Rasmussen poll found that her favorability among Americans reached 55%.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-77">

On an October 6, 2008 broadcast, Larry King asked her if the American electorate was past the Bradly effort. She stated that her husband's achievement of the nomination was a fairly strong indicator that it was.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-78"> The same night she also was interviewed by John Stweart on The Daily Show where she deflected criticism of her husband and his campaign.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-79"> On Fox News' America's Pulse, E. D. Hill referred to the fist bump shared by the Obamas on the night that he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination as a "terrorist fist jab"; Hill was taken off air and the show itself was cancelled.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FrtMOabm_80-0"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-81"> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-82">