Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961

His mother, Anne Dunham, raised him on her own because his father, Barack Obama Senior, left to study at Harvard University when he was 2 years old.

As a child, Obama did not have a relationship with his father. Obama struggled with the absence of his father during his childhood, who he saw only once more after his parents divorced.

Obama entered Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1979 and transferred to Columbia University in New York City after 2 years.

He graduated in 1983 with a degree in political science.

He worked as a community organizer in the  Chicago Law Firm where he met his soon-to-be wife- Michelle Robinson

They moved to Kenwood, on Chicago's South Side and have two daughters named Malia Obama and Sasha Obama

Obama furthered his education at Harvard law and became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review