Following is an introduction to the first African American president of United States, Barack Obama:
Candidate status: Democratic presidential nominee
Filed a statement of candidacy with the FEC on February 12, 2007.
Current job: US senator from Illinois
Birth date: August 4, 1961; Honolulu, Hawaii
Family: Married Michelle Robinson (1992-present); Children: Natasha (2001) and Malia Ann (1999)
Religion: Christian; attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago
Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1983; Harvard University, J.D., 1991
Career:
1990s: Practiced civil rights law and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.
1997-2005: Illinois state senator, representing the 13th District.
2000: Ran for a US House seat but lost primary to former Black Panther Bobby Rush.
July 27, 2004: Delivered keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.
November 2004: Won the US Senate seat in Illinois, defeating Alan Keyes. It was the first time in history a Senate general election race was between two African-American candidates.
Other Facts:
He is author of "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" (1995); "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" (2006) and "It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina" (2006).
Obama won a Grammy Award in 2006 for best spoken album for his reading of "Dreams From My Father". In his 1995 autobiography, Obama confessed to experimenting with marijuana and cocaine as a teenager.
In 2006, he toured five African countries, including a visit to Nyangoma-Kogelo, Kenya, his late father's hometown.
He was the first African American to be president of the Harvard Law Review.
(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency?January?20, 2009)
