When people ask Michelle Obama to describe herself, she doesn't hesitate. First and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom.
But before she was a mother — or a wife, lawyer, or public servant — she was Fraser and Marian Robinson's daughter.
The Robinsons lived in a brick bungalow on the South Side of Chicago. Fraser was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department, and despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at a young age, he hardly ever missed a day of work. Marian stayed home to raise Michelle and her brother, Craig, skillfully managing a busy household filled with love, laughter, and important life lessons.
A product of Chicago public schools, Michelle studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she later met the man who would become the love of her life.
After a few years, Michelle decided her true calling lay in encouraging people to serve their communities and their neighbors. She served as assistant commissioner of planning and development in Chicago's City Hall before becoming the founding executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth for public service.
In 1996, Michelle joined the University of Chicago with a vision of bringing campus and community together. As associate dean of student services, she developed the university's first community service program, and under her leadership as vice president of community and external affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center, volunteerism skyrocketed.
As First Lady, Michelle Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, and encouraging national service.
Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters: Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. Like their mother, the girls were born on the South Side of Chicago.
First Grandmother Gives Rare Interview
(April 7) - She's one of the few in-laws to ever live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, Marian Robinson and her daughter, first lady Michelle Obama, open up in a rare joint interview with Essence magazine. The first grandmother talks about her role in the White House and how proud she is of the first lady and President Barack Obama.
First lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, appear together on the cover of the May issue of Essence magazine, which will hit newsstands Friday. The pair discusses family matters in an exclusive interview. Robinson is one of the few first grandmothers to live in the White House, where she's helping take care of the Obamas' young daughters.
"To me, it's overwhelming," Marian Robinson said in the interview. "I never doubted that she could do this. She is doing it with such grace and dignity. So I am just proud."
Angela Burt-Murray, the editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, told NBC's 'Today' show on Tuesday that Marian Robinson seems to be "very, very happy with her son-in-law these days. I think she’s less impressed with the presidency and more impressed that her son-in-law is a good father and a good husband."
Robinson, 71, retired from her job as a bank executive secretary to help care for her granddaughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, at the White House.
Barack and Michelle Obama are the nation's first African-American first couple. They are products of two very different backgrounds. Michelle Robinson is from a closely knit Chicago family. Barack Obama was born to a globetrotting mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya. Click through for a look at the Obama family.
"Mrs. Robinson is very clear that she will stay as long as her son-in-law and her daughter want her to be there and as long as Sasha and Malia need her," Burt-Murray said. "She’s very excited. She said it’s an easy job for her to be a grandmother when her children are doing such a great job being parents."
For her part, the first lady said her mother had played a huge role in influencing who she is today.
"She completely underestimates her role in who I am. She always says, 'You came here that way, I just stayed out of your way.' That's not how I saw it. My mom is an incredibly intelligent and insightful person about life in general," Mrs. Obama said.
"From the time we could talk, she talked to us endlessly about any and everything with a level of openness and fearlessness that made us believe that we were bright enough to engage with an adult, that we were worthy enough to ask questions and to get really serious answers--and she did it with a level of humor."
Read more of Burt-Murray's take on the interview on the 'Today' show Web site. Then, read excerpts from Marian Robinson's and the first lady's interview at Essence.com.
Two Stylish First Ladies: Michelle Obama, left, and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, visit a museum April 4 in Strasbourg, France. As The New York Times put it, Obama went "heel to heel" with Bruni-Sarkozy, an Italian-born singer and an ex-model, as the Obamas visited Europe for the G-20 summit.
No comments:
Post a Comment