-
was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
-
graduated from Columbia University
-
he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black person to be president of the Harvard Law Review.
-
he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004
-
Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district from 1997 until 2004 in the Illinois Senate, when he ran for the U.S. Senate.
-
Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate.
-
he was nominated for president a year after his presidential campaign began, and after close primary campaigns
-
After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term
-
he promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans. His administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015
-
he ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, continued the process of ending U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan in 2016
-
Obama left office in January and continues to reside in Washington, D.C.