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{{Infobox First Lady |name = |image name = Michelle Obama official portrait headshot.jpg |alt = |imagesize = 225px |birth_date = |birth_place = |birthname = |death_date = |death_place = |nationality |party = |spouse = |relations = |children = |alma_mater = |profession = |net worth = |religion = |website

Michelle Robinson was born in and grew up on the South Side of Chicago. She graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center. Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University.

Family and education[edit]

See also: Michelle Robinson's family tree

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois to Fraser Robinson III,[1] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Shields Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store.[2] Her mother was a full-time homemaker until Michelle entered high school.[3] The Robinson and Shields families can trace their roots to pre-Civil War African Americans in the American South. Her paternal great-great grandfather, Jim Robinson, was an American slave in the state of South Carolina,[4][5] where some of her paternal family still reside.[6][7] 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.[8]

Robinson grew up on Euclid Avenue in the South Shore community area of Chicago,[2][9][10] and was raised in what she describes as a "conventional" home, with "the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table".[11] The family entertained together by playing games such as Monopoly and by reading.[12] She and her brother, Craig (who is 21 months older), skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Michelle joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy).[13]

She attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer.[2] The round trip commute from her South Side home to the Near West Side took three hours.[14] She was a high school classmate of Santita Jackson, the daughter of Jesse Jackson and sister of Jesse Jackson, Jr.[12] She graduated from high school in 1981 as salutatorian.[14][15]

Michelle was inspired to follow her brother to Princeton University;[3] he graduated in 1983. At Princeton, she challenged the teaching methodology for French because she felt that it should be more conversational.[16] As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, "Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community."[17][18] "I remember being shocked," she says, "by college students who drove BMWs. I didn't even know parents who drove BMWs."[14] Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.[2][19] She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.[20] While at Harvard, she participated in political demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities.[21] She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, following Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush.[22] 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.[23]

Barack and Michelle Obama, wearing dark outdoor clothes, in front of a crowd. His expression is muted; she has a wide smile.
Barack and Michelle Obama.

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),[24] and she was assigned to mentor him as a summer associate.[25] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.[26] The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.[27] The couple married in October 1992,[26] and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001).[28] 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 campaign for President of the United States, 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.[29] She is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is the first cousin, once removed, of Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., one of the country’s most prominent black rabbis.

She once requested that her then-fiancé meet her prospective boss, Valerie Jarrett, when considering her first career move.[11] Now Jarrett is one of her husband’s closest advisors.[30][31] 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".[32] However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights.[33]

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school.[34] 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.[3] The Obamas' daughters now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School.[35][36] She stated in an interview on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the couple does not intend to have any more children.[37] They have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House.[36] Marian Robinson has moved into the White House to assist with child care.[38]

  1. ^ White, Deborah. "Michelle Obama, Married to President Barack Obama". U.S. liberal politics. About.com. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d Rossi, Rosalind (January 20, 2007). "The woman behind Obama". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c Slevin, Peter (March 18, 2009). "Mrs. Obama goes to Washington". Princeton Alumni Weekly. 109 (10): 18–22.
  4. ^ Murray, Shailagh (October 2, 2008). "A Family Tree Rooted In American Soil: Michelle Obama Learns About Her Slave Ancestors, Herself and Her Country". The Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
  5. ^ Bone, James (November 6, 2008). "From slave cabin to White House, a family rooted in black America". The Times. London. Retrieved November 7, 2008.
  6. ^ Levinson, Molly (June 4, 2008). "Michelle: Barack's bitter or better half?". BBC News. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  7. ^ Norris, Michele (July 9, 2007). "Spouses on the Campaign Trail: Michelle Obama Sees Election as Test for America". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  8. ^ Swarns, Rachel L. (October 7, 2009). "In First Lady's Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Finnegan, William (May 31, 2004). "The Candidate: How the Son of a Kenyan Economist Became an Illinois Everyman". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  10. ^ Pickert, Kate (October 13, 2008). "Michelle Obama, A Life". Time. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference FLIW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b Newton-Small, Jay (August 25, 2008). "Michelle Obama's Savvy Sacrifice". Time. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  13. ^ Ross, Rosalind (November 10, 2008). "Kids at Michelle Obama's old school see reflection". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  14. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference tn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn't Mind". Chicago Tribune. September 1, 2004.[dead link]
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference FWtWMO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Robinson, Michelle LaVaughn (1985), Sociology Department. "Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community (96 pages)." Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
  18. ^ Ressner, Jeffrey (February 22, 2008). "Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide". Politico.com. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
  19. ^ "Academic Departments & Programs". The Trustees of Princeton University. 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2008.
  20. ^ Brown, Sarah (December 7, 2005). "Obama '85 Masters Balancing Act". Daily Princetonian. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  21. ^ Wolffe, Richard (February 25, 2008). "Barack's Rock". Newsweek. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference VLiCBTO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Bogues, Austin (July 14, 2008). "Sorority Celebrates Michelle Obama's Acceptance". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2008.
  24. ^ Mundy, Liza (October 5, 2008). "When Michelle Met Barack". The Washington Post Magazine. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  25. ^ Kornblut, Anne E. (May 11, 2007). "Michelle Obama's Career Timeout". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
  26. ^ a b Fornek, Scott (October 3, 2007). "Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
  27. ^ Greene, Nick; Whitworth, Melissa (January 22, 2009). "50 things you didn't know about Michelle Obama". London: IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  28. ^ Springen, Karen and Darman, Jonathan (January 29, 2007). "Ground Support". Newsweek. Retrieved April 3, 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Piasecki, Joe (June 5, 2008). "Mother, wife, superstar". Pasadena Weekly. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference MOIGaLM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Langley, Monica (February 11, 2008). "Michelle Obama Solidifies Her Role". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
  32. ^ Herrmann, Andrew (October 19, 2006). "Fame puts squeeze on family life: Many hurdles as Obamas seek balance". Chicago Sun-Times.
  33. ^ Bedard, Paul (November 21, 2008). "Whispers Poll: President-Elect Obama and Michelle Obama's Date Night". U.S.News & World Report. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  34. ^ Loh, Sandra Tsing (September 9, 2008). "The Rantings of a P.T.A. Mom". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
  35. ^ Leiby, Richard L (November 22, 2008). "Obama Girls Will Go To Sidwell Friends: Elite Private School Is 'Best Fit' for Next First Family". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  36. ^ a b Smalley, Suzanne (November 22, 2008). "Just One More Frame!: How do you raise kids in the White House and 'keep them normal,' too?". Newsweek. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  37. ^ Zeleny, Jeff (September 4, 2008). "Michelle Obama: 'I'm Done'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
  38. ^ Erbe, Bonnie (November 7, 2008). "Michelle Obama Slights Working Women". U.S.News & World Report. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
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