Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Obama is the son of Barack Obama Sr. from Kenya, and a white mother, Ann Dunham, from Kansas. Both of his parents are now deceased.
After graduating from high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles where he attended Occidental College for two years before transferring to Columbia University. He graduated with a degree in political science in 1983. Obama briefly worked at Business International Corporation and NYPRIG, but ultimately decided on a more altruistic line of work. In 1985, he moved to Chicago and began working as a community organizer for a group of churches.
In 1988, Obama left Chicago to enter Harvard Law School. He became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991. He returned to Chicago where he began teaching at the University of Chicago Law School and attained a position at the civil rights law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Obama married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in October 1992.