by Peter Slevin
3 “I sometimes feel”: Ibid. Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis requested that “Ithaka” be read at her 1994 funeral.
4 Michelle Robinson reached: Michelle Obama, remarks at White House, January 16, 2014.
5 “When I first got in”: “Obama Speaks with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski,” MSNBC, November 13, 2007.
6 She slept with her: Michelle Obama, remarks, Eastern Kentucky University graduation, May 12, 2013.
7 “I remember being shocked”: Rebecca Johnson, “The Natural,” Vogue, September 2007.
8 Michelle sometimes felt: Michelle Obama, remarks at Bell Multicultural High School, November 12, 2013.
9 “struggling just to keep”: Michelle Obama, speech to Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, Nashville, Tenn., May 18, 2013.
10 “a world that existed”: Craig Robinson, A Game of Character: A Family Journey from Chicago’s Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond, p. 105.
11 standing at a pay phone: Ibid., pp. 113–114.
12 He later said that: Ibid., p. 124.
13 “As a freshman”: Marvin Bressler, interview with author.
14 “infamous for being racially”: Michelle Robinson, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” (senior thesis, Princeton University, 1985), p. 26.
15 “Princeton is actively seeking: Princeton University records.
16 The class of 1985: The class of ’85 statistical reference comes from Princeton University records.
17 “double-consciousness”: W. E. B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk.
18 “I grew up around”: Hilary Beard, interview with author.
19 “My experiences at Princeton”: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” senior thesis, Princeton University, 1985.
20 Brown was horrified: Brian Feagans, “Color of Memory Suddenly Grows Vivid,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 13, 2008.
21 “one of the funniest”: Ibid.
22 “There were those black students who”: Ruth Simmons, interview with author.
23 “I didn’t want this Third World place”: Robin Givhan, interview with author.
24 “I wanted to create a differne social”: Sharon Holland, interview with author.
25 “some of the best of times”: Ibid.
26 “She took time to talk”: Hilary Beard, interview with author.
27 “a program that would”: Czerny Brasuell, interview with author.
28 “because of the isolation”: Ruth Simmons, interview with author.
29 “You learned about politics”: Craig Robinson, remarks at “Coming Back: Reconnecting Princeton’s Black Alumni,” Princeton University, October 18, 2014.
30 “She was generally”: Kenneth Bruce, interview with author.
31 “As a black student:” Lauren Ugorji, interview with author.
32 She was pictured in: Daily Princetonian, February 26, 1985.
33 To raise money: Sally Jacobs, “Learning to be Michelle Obama,” Boston Globe, June 15, 2008.
34 “because she is so tall:” Daily Princetonian, February 26, 1985.
35 “If I drove, I would”: Hilary Beard, interview with author.
36 “Her thoughts were never”: Ibid.
37 “Michelle’s always been very vocal”: Lauren Collins, “The Other Obama: Michelle Obama and the Politics of Candor,” New Yorker, March 10, 2008.
38 “You need to make sure”: Jodi Kantor, “The Obamas’ Marriage,” New York Times Magazine, October 26, 2009.
39 punched in the stomach: Michelle Obama, remarks to D.C. College Application Program graduates, Washington, D.C., June 21, 2014.
40 “a place of peace and calm”: Tamara Jones, “Michelle Obama Gets Personal,” More, January 31, 2012.
41 “That family more nearly”: Marvin Bressler, interview with author.
42 “Across the board”: Kenneth Bruce, interview with author.
43 “There were the beginnings”: Sharon Holland, interview with author.
44 “The question that bothered me”: Lauren Ugorji, interview with author.
45 One year later: William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, p. 5.
46 But Powell also cited: Ibid., p. 8.
47 “We created a community”: Sarah Brown, “Obama ’85 Masters a Balancing Act,” Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005.
48 “We couldn’t afford”: Collins, “The Other Obama.”
49 “giggled and laughed”: Rosalind Rossi, “Obama’s Anchor: As His Career Soars Toward a Presidential Bid, Wife Michelle Keeps His Feet on the Ground,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 21, 2007.
50 “We were three black”: Karen Springen and Jonathan Darman, “Ground Support,” Newsweek, January 29, 2007.
51 “terrorized and humiliated”: Randall Kennedy, The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, pp. 182, 16.
52 “My dad reacted”: Ibid., p. 183.
53 “We were expected”: Mark Bernstein, “Identity Politics: Why Randall Kennedy ’77 Writes About Racial Loyalty, Betrayal and Selling Out,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, April 2, 2008.
54 “They created a family”: Randall Kennedy, interview with Brian Lamb, March 3, 2002.
55 “What are the important”: Suzanne Alele application file, Princeton University.
56 “Suzanne was the spirit”: Czerny Brasuell, interview with author.
57 “always made decisions”: Michelle Obama, interview with author, 2007.
58 She was invited: Suzanne Alele obituary, Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 24, 1990.
59 valedictorian of her class: Joan Quigley, “Homecoming,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, December 8, 2010.
60 “I felt guilty to even ask”: Michelle Obama, Corporation for National and Community Service remarks, May 12, 2009.
61 “Being in the woods”: Eric Schmidt, “Fresh Air Fund Offers Off-Season Adventures,” New York Times, June 16, 1985.
62 “Average kids with a chance”: Geoffrey Canada, newyorktimes.com, video, 2006, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca9rd4aA_t0&feature=related.
63 “one of my heroes”: Michelle Obama, remarks at University of California–Merced graduation, May 16, 2009.
64 “I liked the hayride”: “Fresh Air Fund Opens Up New Views of Family and Community,” New York Times, May 19, 1985.
65 “The first time”: “Voices Ring Out at a Fresh Air Camp,” New York Times, August 11, 1985.
66 “You learn a lot: “Wishes and Goals at Camps for City Children,” New York Times, August 10, 1986.
67 It was an “illusion”: William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions, p. 21.
68 Wilson’s drives: William Julius Wilson, interview with author.
69 “Before a group can enter”: Quoted in Michelle Robinson, “Princeton-Educated Blacks,” p. 8.
70 From Andrew Billingsley’s: Ibid., p. 7.
71 “They discuss problems”: Ibid., pp. 8–9.
72 The “White cultural”: Ibid., p. 3.
73 “may be attributed to”: Ibid., p. 54.
74 “black underclass”: Wilson, p. 2.
75 Black graduates could: Michelle Robinson, “Princeton-Educated Blacks,” p. 55.
76 her major conclusion: Ibid., p. 53.
77 Noting that the university: Ibid., p. 62.
78 As for her own views: Ibid., p. 3.
79 “It is conceivable”: Ibid., p. 3.
80 Howard Taylor, a sociology: Esther Breger, “All Eyes Turn to Michelle Obama ’85,” Daily Princetonian, November 5, 2008.
81 “Do you become the wealthiest person”: Kenneth Bruce, interview with author.
82 “One of the points”: Michelle Obama, interview with author, 2007.
83 “It is incumbent on us”: Ibid.
84 “We teased them about”: South Side Girl, Democratic National Convention, August 26
, 2008.
5 | PROGRESS IN EVERYTHING AND NOTHING
1 pressed ahead: Michelle Obama, remarks to D.C. College Access Program graduation, June 21, 2014.
2 “It is Monday morning”: Scott Turow, One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School, p. ix.
3 “feeling like you were”: Ibid., p. 277.
4 “I almost didn’t apply”: Robert Wilkins, interview with author.
5 “The black community”: Verna Williams, interview with author.
6 numbering 170 among: Harvard University Fact Book, http://oir.harvard.edu/fact-book.
7 It was certainly a contrast: William G. Bowen and Derek Bok, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, p. 5.
8 “a lifesaver for me”: Verna Williams, interview with author.
9 “ ‘What are you going to do’ ”: Ibid.
10 The 575: Michelle Deakin, spokesperson, Harvard Law School, email exchange with author.
11 “caught up in all that goes”: Jocelyn Frye, interview with author.
12 With her friends: Verna Williams, interview with author.
13 “Parents know their children”: Kevin Murphy, “Actress Rashad Delivers Cosby’s Message,” Capital Times (Madison, Wisc.), September 19, 2006.
14 “She was not the person”: Verna Williams, interview with author.
15 “The thing about law”: Jocelyn Frye, interview with author.
16 “She is saying something”: Verna Williams, interview with author.
17 “Michelle always, everything she wrote”: Charles Ogletree, interview with author.
18 she volunteered as an editor: Michelle Robinson, Harvard Law School yearbook, 1988; BLJ 1986 issue.
19 “All the talk and the debates”: David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, p. 187.
20 The goal was to produce: BLJ document; interview with Ginger Chavers McKnight, a former BLJ editor, with author.
21 “the most race-conscious”: Remnick, The Bridge, p. 200.
22 “I’ve worked at the Supreme Court”: “Dreams of Obama,” Frontline, January 2009.
23 “pride in her color and her race”: Derrick Bell, “The Civil Rights Chronicles,” Harvard Law Review, November 1985, p. 13.
24 “defy and transcend”: Ibid., p. 14.
25 “We have made progress”: Ibid., p. 16.
26 “What is impossible”: Ibid., p. 30.
27 “a legal system which”: Derrick A. Bell, “Who’s Afraid of Critical Race Theory?” University of Illinois Law Review 893 (1995): 900.
28 “the spotlighted few”: Bell, “Civil Rights Chronicles,” p. 11.
29 “the patterns of racial”: Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race, p. 120.
30 “History gets made through”: Fox Butterfield, “Old Rights Campaigner Leads a Harvard Battle,” New York Times, May 21, 1990.
31 “This is a university”: Ibid.
32 “Even liberal white scholars”: Vincent Harding, “Equality Is Not Enough,” New York Times, October 11, 1987.
33 “time for re-evaluation”: Victor Bolden, “Black Lawyers Host Constitutional Conference,” Harvard Law Record, September 18, 1987.
34 “We were trying to search”: Robert Wilkins, interview with author.
35 “The absence of minorities”: Michael Sudarkasa, “Verna Williams: Providing a Spark, a Light … a Beacon,” BLSA Memo, Summer 1988, p. 7.
36 “In the name of tradition”: Michelle Robinson, “Minority and Women Law Professors: A Comparison of Teaching Styles,” BLSA Memo, Summer 1988, p. 30.
37 “to understand that”: Charles Ogletree, interview with author.
38 “Part of the reason why”: Michelle Robinson, “Minority and Women Law Professors.”
39 “Students come to me”: Ibid.
40 “to shake students out”: Ibid.
41 “strong on what her opinions”: David Wilkins, interview with author.
42 “You can’t begin to”: Karyn E. Langhorne, “Bureau Commemorates 75 Years of Legal Aid,” Harvard Law Record, April 29, 1988.
43 “A large number of”: Ibid.
44 One was a matter: Harvard Legal Aid Bureau records.
45 “experienced the tactical”: 75th Annual Report of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, 1988.
46 “a commitment to her father”: “Michelle Obama’s Commitment to Public Service Began at HLS,” Harvard Law Bulletin, 2008.
47 “People looked at her”: Ilene Seidman, interview with author.
48 “It was less a thoughtful”: Mariana Cook, interview with Barack and Michelle Obama, 1996.
49 “There was a real sense”: Robert Wilkins, interview with author.
50 “You guys, this is”: Areva Bell Martin, interview with author.
51 “We were treated like celebrities”: Ibid.
52 “Yes, you’re privileged”: Ibid.
53 “My personal experience”: Karen W. Arenson, “Princeton Honors Ex-Judge Once Turned Away for Race,” New York Times, June 5, 2001.
54 “There’s no other black student”: Jocelyn Frye, interview with author.
55 “We had—and we should”: Ibid.
56 “something more, not a social club”: Verna Williams, interview with author.
57 At least one faculty: Robert Wilkins, interview with author.
58 “The majority of young people”: Stefan Fatsis, “Arias Urges 5,500 Harvard Graduates to Help Ease Suffering,” Associated Press, June 9, 1988.
59 He lamented the low: “Bok Assails Gap in Pay in Vital Jobs,” New York Times, June 10, 1988.
60 “Harvard Law School is a hard place”: David Wilkins, interview with author.
6 | FINDING THE RIGHT THING
1 More money than her parents combined: Michelle Obama, remarks, November 2, 2009, Washington, D.C.
2 “I have been asked”: Flynn McRoberts, “Chicago’s Black Political Movement: What Happened?,” Chicago Tribune, July 4, 1999. Metcalfe’s words were written for him by Vernon Jarrett, Chicago Tribune writer and future father-in-law of Valerie Jarrett, the Obamas’ friend and adviser.
3 Washington received just: Andrew H. Malcolm, “A Matter of Blacks and Whites,” New York Times, March 27, 1983.
4 “His picture was everywhere”: Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father, p. 147.
5 “so obviously a quality candidate”: Alan Greene, interview with author.
6 Michelle’s assignments as a young: Lynne Marek, “The ‘Other Obama’ Honed Her Skills at Sidley Austin,” National Law Journal, June 23, 2008.
7 for example, reading storyboards: Mary Hutchings Reed, interview with author.
8 “I knew Michelle was frustrated”: John Levi, interview with author.
9 “She was very at ease”: Mary Hutchings Reed, interview with author.
10 “A lot of people come”: Nate Eimer, interview with author.
11 Michelle volunteered: Levi, interview.
12 “There was always a bit”: Steven Carlson, interview with author.
13 Despite what she described: Suzanne Malveaux, “The Obamas,” CNN, January 1, 2009.
14 For one thing: Barack Obama, “My First Date with Michelle,” O: The Oprah Magazine, February 2007.
15 It was the ears: Michelle Obama, The Oprah Winfrey Show, January 19, 2005.
16 “probably just a black man”: Holly Yeager, “The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama,” O: The Oprah Magazine, November 2007.
17 “But he walked into”: Mariana Cook, interview with Barack and Michelle Obama, 1996.
18 “Well, Barack grew up”: Ibid.
19 “I’m going to focus”: Cassandra West, “Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn’t Mind,” Chicago Tribune, September 1, 2004.
20 a pattern she chose: Michelle Obama, 106 and Park, BET, November 19, 2013.
21 “My family swore”: Michelle Obama, remarks in Harlem, June 26, 2007.
22 the couple quietly married: David
Maraniss, Barack Obama: The Story, p. 162.
23 At the time, laws prohibiting: Ibid.
24 His younger sister: Michelle Obama, remarks at Maya Angelou memorial service, June 7, 2014.
25 “This is no picnic for”: Barack Obama, Dreams, pp. 47–48.
26 Madelyn worked: Michelle Obama, speech to Democratic National Convention, September 4, 2012.
27 “too old and too troubled”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 346.
28 “Well, he ended up pretty”: Charles Payne, interview with author.
29 “You know, I got my”: Michelle Obama, campaign rally, Akron, Ohio, October 24, 2008.
30 “Indifferent” was how he recalled: Barack Obama, Dreams, p. 98.
31 smoked so much pot: Maraniss, Barack Obama.
32 “I rebelled,” he once said: Barack Obama, speech to Northwestern University commencement, 2006.
33 “She cut me off”: Barack Obama, Dreams, p. 95.
34 “A few miles from Pasadena”: Ibid., p. 98.
35 “leaving your race at the door”: Ibid., p. 97.
36 “seemed indistinguishable from”: Ibid., p. 98.
37 “We always just thought”: Charles Payne, interview with author.
38 “uttered racial or ethnic”: Barack Obama, “A More Perfect Union,” speech in Philadelphia, April 2008.
39 “a big, dark woman”: Barack Obama, Dreams, p. 102.
40 When Barack told Regina: Ibid., p. 104.
41 “Oh Barack”: Ibid., p. 105.
42 He went to one cloth-napkin lunch: Newton Minow, interview with author.
43 “Barack Obama, One L!”: Remnick, The Bridge, p. 193.
44 “I was impressed by his”: Laurence Tribe, unpublished interview with David Remnick.
45 “in every way you can”: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, January 1, 2009.
46 “When I first met him”: Rosemary Ellis, “A Conversation with Michelle Obama,” Good Housekeeping, November 2008, www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/celebrity-interviews/michelle-obama-interview.
47 “He is very persistent”: Ibid.
48 “I said, okay, we’ll go”: Malveaux, CNN, January 1, 2009.
49 “I was sold”: Ibid.
50 “In her eyes”: Mariana Cook, interview with the Obamas, 1996.
51 “terrifyingly random”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 329.
52 He said he would like: Ibid., p. 332.
53 To impress him: Michelle Obama, Rachael Ray Show, September 17, 2012.