In Barack Obama’s Dreams from my Father, many aspects of race, gender, class, education, etc. are involved in the life of the current president. This novel introduces and brings out discussion for further analysis into these categories of privilege and discrimination. Though certain categories have caused great adversity for Barack Obama, he is still able to overcome his minority group due to the other privileged groups that he is in.
In the autobiography, Obama entails on the beginning journey of his life from early childhood to young adulthood. The novel begins with him finding out from his aunt that his father has passed away in Nairobi. Obama’s father left him and his mother when he was only 2 years old. Obama then talks about the family he grew up with, his mother and grandparents, and the racism they dealt with at a time when few accepted interracial relations and even more so marriages. He recalls being made fun of as a young child when other kids would make monkey noises when it was discovered his father was from Kenya. He then moves to Indonesia when his mother remarries, but then at 10 years old moves back to Hawaii where he spent his early childhood. It was with his grandparents that he developed much of his character and learned how strongly education was emphasized in his family. Obama also talks about how fascinated he was with by his father. As he grows a bit older into adolescence, Obama learns more about race relations and reads the book Heart of Darkness. This book helps him to see how white people look at black people, as a white man wrote the book talking about black people. He also delves into his marijuana use, which he used to help him during this confusing and rough period in his life. Obama’s story then ...
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... because if a woman were to act “like a white man (the dominant group),” then she would still be criticized for not being “womanly” enough. There are different factors such as these which impact overcoming the minority group or groups one is in. Another such example is black women. There have never been any black women close to winning the presidency or even their primaries. In American culture, black women are stereotyped to be nannies and are not taken seriously. This is because they suffer from both racial and gender minority groups. Ultimately, because Barack Obama is male, was raised in a white middle class family, and is educated allowed him to overcome his one minority category.
Works Cited
Johnson, Allan. Privilege, Power, and Difference. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
Obama, Barack. Dreams from My Father. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004. Print.
She had the opportunity to attend prestigious universities and pursue a career in education and consequently a public librarian. Her household consisted of her parents and her, since she had no siblings. She was always reading and her love for reading led her to follow the road of education. She has always expressed her love for education and most of her contributions were thinking about education and making literacy more accessible. She expressed her decision to support her husband’s view when it came to literacy. On the other hand, Michelle Obama comes from very humble beginnings. Her family circle consisted of both parents and a brother. Her father was the household breadwinner, even though her father suffered from a medical condition, the family unit was very close and education was always a priority in her house. Michelle Obama’s parent always made that clear to her and her brother. The commitment to education helped her and her brother to go to college and graduate from Ivy League schools. On the contrary of Laura Bush, Michelle Obama chose to become a Lawyer. She was always interested in the law process and became very successful as a lawyer. Michelle Obama was very involved in creating change to the political landscape. She was very outspoken about the misrepresentation of minority in different areas like education and the law
Common stereotypes portray black fathers as being largely absent from their families. Proceeding the emancipation, African Americans were forced to adapt to a white ruled society. Now that they were free, many sought education and jobs in order to provide for their families and achieve their full potential. This caused many African American males to leave their families in pursuit of better opportunities. Obama’s father had left his home to pursue education and study at Harvard University, but Obama only saw his father one more time, in 1971, when he came to Hawaii for a month's visit. Throughout the rest of his life, Obama faced the conflict of belonging, most in part because he didn’t have a father to help him. “There's nobody to guide through
In contempt of Obama’s humble giving spirit, vivid personality, and many accomplishments, a debate is always at hand upon hearing the infamous name Barack Hussein Obama. From his place of birth, religion, and ethnicity Obama’s face a fair share of controversy. At the heels of adversity along with sheer determination to help others Obama became a leader that delivers and one of the most influential people of America. Adversity was introduced to Obama at an early age. With a Kenyan father and Caucasian mother residing in Hawaii, Obama has always stood out in numerous ways. In 1959 Barack Obama Senior was selected from a number of candidates to go to school in the US where he attended The University of Hawaii in Honolulu to
The American Narrative includes a number of incidents throughout American history, which have shaped the nation into what it is today. One of the significant issues that emerged was slavery, and the consequent emancipation of the slaves, which brought much confusion regarding the identification of these new citizens and whether they fit into the American Narrative as it stood. In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B Dubois introduces the concept of double consciousness as “the sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others” (Dubois 3). This later became the standard for describing the African-American narrative because of the racial identification spectrum it formed. The question of double consciousness is whether African-Americans can identify themselves as American, or whether the African designation separates them from the rest of society. President Barack Obama and Booker T. Washington, who both emerged as prominent figures representing great social change and progress for the African-American race in America, further illustrate the struggle for an identity.
Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii. He is of mixed parentage: his father, a black African born in Kenya, while his mother, a white American that came from Kansas. When he was six years old his parents divorced and his mother married an Indonesian oil manager. They moved to Indonesia where Obama was educated in a Roman Catholic School. He then returned back to Hawaii to continue school while living with his grandparents. Barack struggled with his own racial identity in his late teens. (Funk & Wagnalls)
King’s motive for equality has affected many African Americans in a positive way. One of the positive ways is the announcement of the title of the 45th and first black president of the United States going to Barack Obama. In Barack Obama’s 2008 “A More Perfect Union” speech, he asserted that “Issues of race and gender in America have been a complication throughout our history, and they are still complicated in this primary campaign.” Barack Obama’s intentions were to retaliate against the officials discouraging him from winning the campaign. However, this quote is also used as a statement regarding the racial issues that occurred in the past and that are continuing to occur in the present day. Barack Obama and Dr. King seemingly shared similarities regarding equality. Although they were almost a century apart, Both Barack Obama and Dr. King realized racial equality is a major issue in America. Both of them realized that it is a sensitive issue, but it should not be ignored nor avoided. They realized that racism is an issue that may never come to an end as long as hate crimes and other forms of discrimination occur. They stressed the fact of blacks living in an existing slave mentality. In previous days, Dr. King focused on the way blacks were living in a post slavery era, meaning that blacks were being treated like they never left the plantation. In today’s time, Barack Obama insinuates that blacks are continuing to be treated as slaves, whether it is by other civilians
In the beginning of the speech Barack Obama reflects back to where his parents and grandparents came from and what they did as their occupation. Obama shows pathos, logos and ethos many times throughout his 2004 keynote speech. He also spoke on why his mother and father gave him the name that they gave him. By doing so, Barack Obama showed pathos throughout the speech and got his audience to know him a bit before pursuing the Democratic Party to vote for John Kerry. He appeals to his audience by mentioning that his parents are both passed away, and from the look of things that did not stop him from standing where he was that day with pride and sadness:
Obama emotionally influences the nation to move forward from the issues of race that is hindering America. Without dwelling on his family tree, Obama reminds us that his father was black and his mother white, that he came from Kenya, but she came from Kansas: “I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slave and slave owners — an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles, and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
Many women do not get treated the same as men and that is a problem. Shirley Chisholm gives a speech about the Equal Rights Amendment. She talks about how the different sex are not being treated the same. There are many prejudice that was going on in the 1900s and that have become a problem in the society. Many people think that they are higher than others and that they are better because they have white skin. But they are just the same no matter what skin color or sex they are. There are much discrimination between men, women, and other races and Shirley Chisholm talks about it in her speech “For the Equal Rights Amendment” and how there was and is prejudice. Every women or other race can do the same things a white man can. Matthews wrote “In 1972 Shirley Chisholm, a congresswomen from Brooklyn, ran unsuccessfully for President in a race that mobilized many African-American women to become involved in politics.” It does not matter what sex a person is, they can become anyone. According to Chisholm in her speech “For” she states “House Joint Resolution 264…provides a legal bas...
It is hard to believe that after electing a minority president, the United States of America can still be seen as a vastly discriminatory society. A question was posed recently after a viewing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream…” speech of whether his dream has become a reality. After consideration, a majority of the viewers said no. Although many steps have been taken to improve racial equality in America, there is still no way to legislate tolerance. Dr. King’s message of equality for all has been lost in a black and white struggle over the taken meaning of his context. Until our society can allow all people to live in peace we will never truly achieve King’s dream. Case in point, referring to President Obama as our "our First Black President" should not be considered a statement of pride over how far we have come. Placing this racial qualifier, even in a positive light, only serves to point out his minority status, not the fact that he is the President of the United States. According to Dr. King's dream, a man or woman, black or white, would be viewed as President without qualifying their differences from mainstream America.
He reviled both his personal and family history stating, “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, “I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave-owners”, and, I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents”. As Obama is telling his family background, He shows how and why he has an authority to speak on race issues. It then supports the remarks he later makes about the race issues that are affecting America. By Him revealing his own personal history it allows him to gain ethos by creating a personal connection with his audience. This allows his audience to be a lot more inclined to trust him, and support him if they can make a connection to his speech on a more personal
Gloria Steinem’s “Living the Revolution” commencement speech highlights the hardships and stereotypes placed on women and men of all ethnicities in general society of the 1970’s decade, and suggests a necessary change is needed in the way we view people in general. Steinem goes on to support her ideas with numerous pieces of evidence. Foremost, she calls attention to the past and present stereotypes and prejudices and suggests that these ideas are “imbedded so deeply in our thinking” that we don’t often realize they are there (5). Secondly, she points out our society’s lack of female and African American role models and that the traditional white male leader is outdated and overdue for an upgrade (12-16). Steinem also puts for...
Barack Obama has made no secret that over the past three decades Nelson Mandela has been the greatest influence in his life. Coming from an African ancestry, Obama drew inspiration from Mandela’s life and influenced Obama to take himself upon a journey of self-discovery and find his own voice (Obama, 2004). The repercussions of Mandela’s inspirational work caused Obama to become a part of an anti-apartheid divestment movement in college and to shift to focusing on law and politics (Epstein, 2013). Now that Barack Obama has become President of the United States of America, he has consistently quoted Mandela in all his keynote speeches speaking of freedom and equality and his actions and words are inspired by the desire to emulate Mandela’s powerful actions and movements and the examples that he set, in the 21st century (Killough, 2013). Even within the tribute to Mandela, Obama (2013) says “You can make his life’s work your own…It stirred something ...
It can be interpreted that Obama does not feel a strong connection to his father as a person, but rather Kenya. Obama feels like there is a wound that involves injustices with the african american community that has to be healed. Race being the catalyst of this wound. Obama exposes such sensitivity when he explains his perception of his father’s funeral. The depiction of these feelings are unveiled when Obama discloses, “I didn’t go to the funeral… I felt no pain, only the vague sense of an opportunity lost” (128). All Obama has are “dreams” of what his father was like, his ideas of his father are constructed through explanations from his family and his imagination therefore the search to find out who he truly is poses as an extremely difficulty. This difficulty creates anger within Barack so when his father passes rather than feeling remorse he feels as if his opportunity to visit Kenya was lost. Obama hoped to connect with Kenya, what he believed to be his true roots at the time of his father’s passing. The ship to connect with his father was seen as long gone therefore his search to fill his void of inheritance was shifted from a finding a connection with his father to a securing a connection to Kenya.
Baldwin shows that although the nation was celebrating freedom and independence, African Africans still faced racism and did not get the same opportunities as Caucasians (Baldwin 1). Today, this unequal opportunity is seen through many Americans especially ones of low social status. Many Americans seek economic opportunity that can raise them to success, but many countries fare better than America in social mobility such as Denmark (Wilkinson 3). Baldwin’s message still resonates in modern day society as many people, because of their economic status, lack the ability of economic and social mobility and better opportunity for themselves and family. The American Dream is seen as hard work and initiative will ultimately lead to financial wealth. This “rags to riches” ideal is becoming more of a dream as the U.S. is dealing with less opportunity for people of low economic and social status. While the American Dream is difficult to obtain for people of low socioeconomic status, it is easier to obtain for people of higher socioeconomic status and