Barack Obama: African-American

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents. Official portrait of President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, Dec. 6, 2012. Today we are talking about Barack Obama. He first took office in 2009 and was re-elected in 2012. Because his presidency is so recent, this program will not try to offer a historical perspective. But one part of his legacy is already clear. Obama is the United States’ first African-American president. His father was a black man from Kenya; his mother was a white American from the Midwestern state of Kansas. For many Americans, Obama’s presidency was an important symbol in a country that permitted black people to be enslaved. And, even after the U.S. Constitution officially banned slavery in 1865, African-Americans have been extremely under-represented in the U.S. government. By 2009, only five African-Americans had ever served in the U.S. Senate – and Obama was one of them. Even many people who did not vote for Obama said his election to the country’s highest office made them proud or hopeful. A public opinion survey immediately after Election Day found that two-thirds of Americans believed that the country’s racial conflicts could be resolved. Early life Young Barack Obama with his father...