His College Years

In 1979, after he finished high school, Barry went to Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. There, he started to learn about his African roots and decided to use his African name, Barack. After two years in L.A., he transferred to Columbia University in New York City. He studied politics.

After college, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he worked to help poor people in his city. He traveled to Africa to meet his grandmother and cousins for the first time. He went back many times over the years to visit with his family and learn about where he came from. At work, he met a lawyer named Michelle Robinson. They worked together in a big law firm. Then he left Chicago to go to Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He did very well in law school.

After he was done with school, Barack moved back to Chicago and in 1992 he married Michelle. He worked as a lawyer, helping poor people who had been treated unfairly. He worked hard to get the people he helped to register to vote.

He convinced many people that their votes were important, and helped them feel like they could make a difference. Barack and Michelle had two daughters, Malia (born in 1998) and Sasha (born in 2001). Malia and Sasha have lived in Chicago their whole life, even when their father was working in Washington, D.C. as a Senator. They play soccer and go to school, just like regular kids!