Chicago - Obama Presidency Oral History

To produce the Obama Presidency Oral History, Incite at Columbia University partnered with researchers at the University of Chicago to conduct interviews related to Barack and Michelle Obama's lives and careers in Chicago. 

Narrators in this collection speak widely about Chicago politics and history, and illuminate the communities, neighborhoods, and networks in which Barack and Michelle Obama developed as political and public figures, and which formed the basis of Barack Obama's political support. Among other events, issues, and themes, they discuss Civil Rights and environmental justice activism in Chicago; Harold Washington's election in 1983; Barack Obama's local, statewide, and national political campaigns; Obama's career as a legislator in Springfield; and the relationship between the University of Chicago and the Hyde Park community.

These stories and dynamics are brought to life by relatives and friends, key mentors and advisors, activists and movement leaders, and elected officeholders. Hear from advisors and White House officials Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod; civil rights leaders Otis Moss Jr., Bobby Rush, and Timuel Black; Springfield colleagues Emil Jones and John Cullerton; business leaders John Rogers and James Crown, and many more.

The Obama Presidency Oral History project’s coverage of Chicago overlaps and intersects with other topic areas in the collection, including Elections and Campaigns; Black Politics; and Obama In The Senate.