Parents of Barack Obama Biography Timeline

Barack Obama	Michelle Obama	Parents of Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama Jr was born to Ann Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama Snr. On August 4th 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. His father a Muslim of Kenyan origin married Ann Dunham on February the 2nd 1961, after having met at the University of Hawaii. Ann was residing at Wichita, Kansas at the time but is of English/Irish origin. At the time of marriage Ann was 18 years age while Barack Obama Snr was 23 years age. Ann gave birth to their baby Barack Obama Jr in 1961 at a women's centre in Hawaii. Obama was 2 years old when his parents filed for divorce. His Father returned to Kenya, while his mother married Lolo soetoro, an Indonesian student, in 1967, who she later divorced in 1980. From her second marriage Ann also had a daughter named Maya Kassandra soetoro.

Stanley Ann Dunham, daughter of Madelyn and Stanley Dunham was born November 29, 1942 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, US. Her father who was serving in the US army at the time had longed for a boy, and subsequently named Ann Stanley after himself.  This name had brought Ann great embarrassment throughout her school years, but by college she had started introducing herself as Ann. She attended Mercer Island High school, Washington, after her parents moved there, accompanied by her in 1956. Her father had left the army after World war two to settle down as a furniture salesman, while Ann's mother Madelyn became the Vice President of a Bank. It was during this phase of her life when the 13 year old Ann was taught the importance of challenging societal norms and questioning all manners of authority, by teachers Val Foubert and Jim Wichtenman. It was those lessons that Ann took to heart and very strongly influenced the rest of her life. It was these teachings that provided an intellectual stimulant and an affirmation that there indeed was an interesting life beyond high school dances, football games, and slumber parties. She was described by her high school friends as, "the original feminist", another friend quoted "if you were concerned about something going wrong in the world, Stanley would know it first". One class mate Jill Burton-Dasher, remembered Ann as "Intellectually more mature than we were, and a little bit ahead of her time, in an off- centre way".

 After she graduated in the spring of 1960 Ann was yet to move again, this time to Hawaii. Her Father had found a better business opportunity- another furniture store. Ann enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Maxine Box a former high school friend received a letter shortly after Ann began classes at the University of Hawaii saying that she had fallen in love with a grad. Student, Obama. He was the Schools first Black African student from Kenya. They married on February 2nd, 1961 in Maui, Hawaii, after being granted permission from Obama senior's first wife Kezia. Ann was expecting her first child and was 3 months pregnant at the time of their marriage. She gave birth to her first child Barack Hussein Obama Jnr, on August 4th 1961. Ann dropped out of school to take care of her baby while Obama Snr completed his degree.

Barack Hussein Obama Snr was born in Kendu Bay Kenya in 1936. He was the son of Hussein Onyongo and Akuma Habiba. Obama was raised as a Muslim but later became atheist. His father Hussein Onyongo had travelled widely during the First World War visiting Europe, India and Zanzibar where he converted from Christianity to Islam. He had three wives; Barack Obama Snr was the son of Akuma the second wife. After Akuma separated from her husband in 1945, Barack Obama Senior was raised by Oryongo s third wife, Sarah. He grew up in Nayangoma Kogelo, and married Kezia at the age of 18. He attended Maseno National School from 1950 to 1953, an exclusive Christian boarding school run by the Anglican school of Kenya. He was described as "very keen, steady, trustworthy and friendly. Concentrates, reliable and outgoing by the head teacher at the time. Obama received a scholarship on a programme that offered western educational opportunities to outstanding Kenyan students. At the age of 23 Obama Snr enrolled at the University of Hawaii.

He had become an atheist, turning away from Islam, by the time he moved to the US. He left his pregnant wife Kezia and their young son behind in Kenya. When Obama announced he was to marry Stanley Ann Dunham it caused anger from parents on both sides. Neither were happy and objected to the marriage they disproved of. Despite parental objections they married in Hawaii on February 1961. While Ann had left school to care for their baby, Obama continued his studies at the University of Hawaii, and later graduated in June 1962, after which he was offered a scholarship to study in New York. This offer was rejected, as Obama Snr had plans to study at the prestigious Harvard University, even though he knew that he would be distanced from his wife and child, as a result of his decision.  Ann and baby Barack made a trip to Mercer Island to visit friends and then to Cambridge, Massachusetts where they were united with Barack's Father. It was not long before they returned to Seattle where Ann enrolled at the University of . Their marriage was failing and it was in January 1964 after having returned to Hawaii to her family that Ann filed for divorce. Although it was believed by friends that Obama did love Ann he was said to be someone who didn't want the impediment of being responsible for a family. He had higher aspirations in life. Consequently Obama did not contest to the divorce which was granted.

 Obama went on to receive a Masters degree in Economics from Harvard in 1965. He returned shortly thereafter to his home country Kenya. Obama Snr rarely kept in touch with his former family and never developed a personal relationship with his Son. He only ever visited him once when Obama Jnr was 10 years of age. Many years later a friend from the University of Hawaii who was  also an aquaintence of Ann's visited Obama in Kenya and was saddened to see that he never mentioned Ann nor his son even once. He had become a bitter man at that phase of his life. While at Harvard, Obama Snr had met an American born teacher who returned to Kenya with him. They later married and had two children, but this marriage also ended in divorce.

 In Kenya, Obama worked in the Ministry of Transport as an economist and later became senior economist in the Kenyan Ministry of finance. His career was destroyed after a conflict with President Kenyatta caused by a paper written by Obama, titled 'Problems facing Our Socialism', containing criticism for national planning, African Socialism and it's applicability to planning in Kenya. Obama's life then took a plunge into drinking and poverty, from which he never recovered. This was a most disappointing time in his life, as he had been denied due opportunities to influence the running of his country, making him a very bitter and frustrated man. It was a car accident that proved to be fatal for Obama as he died at the age of 46 as a direct result of this in 1982, Nairobi. He is buried in Alego, Siaya District, Kenya.

Ann Dunham enrolled at the university of Hawaii to continue with her education, and graduated with a BA in mathematics in August, 1967, followed by a MA in Anthropology, December, 1983, and later a PhD in Anthropology in August 1992. Ann married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian student at the University of Hawaii in 1967, after which they decided to move to Jakorta, Indonesia, along with Barrack jr. Ann gave birth to Maya Kassandra Soetoro on August 15, 1970.

Even though Ann tried to enrich her son's education with correspondence courses in English and speeches by the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King jr. she still thought it necessary to send Barrack back to the US for further education, despite it being a most painful thing for her to do-to separate from her son. In Hawaii  he had his grandmother, Madelyn's support, both financially and emotionally throughout the years he spent separated from his mother. Once again Stanley Ann's marriage was struggling to survive. Ann wanted different of life to that of her husband Lolo. He wanted more children to extend his family whereas Ann intended to return to work. Stanley Ann left her husband Lolo Soetoro in 1972 and returned to Hawaii to be re-united with her son. Ann and Lolo met only when she returned to Indonesia from time to time, for her fieldwork. Their marriage was ended in 1980.

 Ann encouraged both her children to feel connected to their biological fathers. She once again returned to education in 1974 while raising Barrack and Maya. As Ann's fieldwork trips to Indonesia were frequent, Barrack decided not accompany them in 1977  in order to graduate from high school in the United States. Ann persued her career in rural development, which involved working with the worlds poorest people, highlighting womens rights in society. She worked very closely with Indonesia's oldest bank, United states agency for international development and womens world banking. In 1995 Ann was struck with ovarian and uterine cancer. She spent her last year in Hawaii with her widowed mother. She is remembered by Barack Jnr to have worried more about medical expenses than of her recovery. Stanley Ann Dunham died at the age of 52 in 1955. Ann's ashes were spread in the pacific ocean by Barack obama Jnr and Maya Soetoro. Ann was remembered by best friend Maxine Box as "always challenging, and arguing and comparing" . She was always thinking about things that the rest of us wouldn't imagine.

 

 

Extended Family

 

 

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