Barack Obama Sr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Baraka Obama[1] 18 June 1934[2][3] |
| Died | 24 November 1982 (aged 48) Nairobi, Kenya |
| Citizenship |
|
| Education | |
| Spouses | Kezia Aoko (m. 1954)Ruth Baker
(m. 1964; div. 1973) |
| Children | 8, including Malik, Auma, and Barack |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Obama family |
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (/ˈbærək huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/;[8][9] born Baraka Obama, 18 June 1934[2][3] – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father (1995). Obama married in 1954 and had two children with his first wife, Kezia. He was selected for a special program to attend college in the United States and studied at the University of Hawaii where he met Stanley Ann Dunham, whom he married in 1961 following the conception of his son, Barack. Obama and Dunham divorced three years later.[10] Obama then went to Harvard University for graduate school, where he earned an M.A. in economics, and returned to Kenya in 1964. He saw his son Barack once more, when his son was about 10.
In late 1964, Obama Sr. married Ruth Beatrice Baker, a Jewish-American woman he had met in Massachusetts. They had two sons together before separating in 1971 and divorcing in 1973. Obama first worked for an oil company, before beginning work as an economist with the Kenyan Ministry of Transport. He was promoted to senior economic analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He was among a cadre of young Kenyan men who had been educated in the West in a program supported by Tom Mboya. Obama Sr. had conflicts with Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta, which adversely affected his career. He was fired and blacklisted in Kenya, finding it nearly impossible to get a job. Obama Sr. was involved in three serious car accidents during his final years; he died as a result of the last one in 1982.
- ^ Jacobs (2011), p. 26: Her brother Baraka, as she [Hawa Auma] recalls, converted to Christianity when he was about six years old and changed his name to the more Christian-sounding Barack because the Christian missionaries at the early schools that he attended insisted that he do so.
- ^ a b Maraniss (2012), p. 65: He had been born inside the euphorbia hedges of the K'obama homestead on 18 June 1934.
- ^ a b Liberties (2012), p. 202: The age of the father is questionable since most of the documents Barack Hussein Obama filled out during his United States student visa was 18 June 1934; however, Obama II's book Dreams of My Father states his birth date was 18 June 1936. Check out Immigration and Naturalization Service records, and those documents also indicate the birth date to be 18 June 1934, thereby making Obama Sr. twenty-seven at the birth of Obama II instead of the annotated twenty-five on the birth certificate.
- ^ Fornek, Scott; Good, Greg (9 September 2007). "The Obama family tree" (PDF). Chicago Sun-Times. pp. 2B–3B. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
- ^ Crilly, Rob (22 August 2008). "Life is good in my Nairobi slum, says Barack Obama's younger brother". The Times. London. p. 37. Retrieved 23 August 2008.[dead link]
- ^ Pflanz, Mike (21 August 2008). "Barack Obama is my inspiration, says lost brother". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
- ^ "The President's Kin" (PDF). New York. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ^ Sally H. Jacobs. The Other Barack. PublicAffairs. 2011. Excerpt at NPR.org Retrieved 16 September 2011. Quote: "The Old Man had also been called Barack, but his was a working man's name, with the emphasis on the first syllable."
- ^ Interview of Sally H. Jacobs by John Batchelor. Archived 18 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine The John Batchelor Show. 16 July 2011 (19:10–19:50). Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ Cejka, T. Diane (30 November 2011). "Obama Immigration Records FOIA Requests". H. S. Mathers. p. 115. Retrieved 25 September 2015 – via Scribd.