Michelle Obama

by Peter Slevin

  TreeHouse Foods

  Tribe, Laurence

  Trinity United Church of Christ, 7.1, 9.1, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 15.1

  Trotter, Donne, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3

  Truman, Harry, 1.1, 12.1

  Truth, Sojourner, 5.1, 10.1, 12.1, 15.1

  Tubman, Harriet, 5.1, 10.1

  Tucson, Ariz.

  Turner, Henry McNeal

  Turow, Scott, 5.1, 5.2, 9.1

  Ugorji, Lauren Robinson, 4.1, 4.2

  unemployment, unemployed, 9.1, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 15.1

  unions, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 11.1, 12.1

  United States:

  Barack’s views on, 9.1, 13.1

  foreign policy of, 12.1, 14.1

  Michelle’s views on

  as two societies

  Wright’s views of, 11.1, 11.2

  University Community Service Center, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2

  Upchurch, David

  Urban Health Initiative, 9.1, 10.1

  urban renewal, 8.1, 11.1

  Urey, Harold

  veterans, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 15.1

  Veterans Administration, U.S.

  violence, itr.1, 8.1, 8.2, 11.1, 11.2, 14.1, 14.2, 15.1, 15.2

  domestic, 4.1, 9.1

  racial, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 11.1

  Virginia, 2.1, 9.1, 13.1, 14.1

  volunteerism, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1, 12.1

  Vorenberg, James

  voter registration, 7.1, 7.2

  voting, votes, 1.1, 2.1, 11.1

  of blacks, see blacks, voting by

  Voting Rights Act, 2.1, 13.1

  Wade, Dwyane

  Walker, Edwin

  Wallace, Chris

  Wallace, George, 13.1, 13.2

  Wallace, Walter L.

  Walsh, Larry

  Warnsby, Caron

  Washington, Booker T., 7.1, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3

  Washington, D.C., 4.1, 6.1, 7.1, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1

  Anacostia in, itr.1, itr.2, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3

  Constitution Hall in, itr.1, itr.2

  Washington, George

  Washington, Harold, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4

  Washington, Joyce

  Washington, Martha, 12.1, 12.2

  wealth, 9.1, 11.1, 11.2, 12.1, 14.1

  We Are Not Saved (Bell),

  Weather Underground, 7.1, 11.1

  Webster, Charlie

  welfare, 10.1, 11.1, 14.1

  Wells, Ida B.

  Whitaker, Cheryl Rucker, 10.1, 13.1, 15.1

  Whitaker, Eric, 7.1, 9.1, 10.1, 10.2, 11.1

  White House, 5.1, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 14.1

  Blue Room in

  as bubble

  Clinton

  cultural events at, 3.1, 13.1, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5, epi.1

  dinner at, 13.1, 15.1

  East Room in, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1, 14.2

  East Wing of, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, 13.1, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4

  household management in

  interns at

  Jarrett in, 7.1, 12.1, 12.2

  Lincoln Bedroom in

  press room of

  security problems at, 14.1, 14.2

  South Lawn of, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1

  State Dining room in

  Truman Balcony at, 14.1, 15.1

  vegetable garden at, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1

  West Wing of, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, epi.1

  whites, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1, 15.1, 15.2

  election of 2008 and, 10.1, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5

  in Hyde Park, 8.1, 11.1

  working-class

  white supremacy

  White Supremacy Club

  Whitney M. Young High School, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1

  Wieghardt, Nelli Bar

  Wilder, L. Douglas

  Wilkerson, Isabel

  Wilkins, David, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 7.1

  Wilkins, Robert, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6

  Williams, Billy

  Williams, Jasmine

  Williams, Juan

  Williams, Marjorie

  Williams, Patricia L., 13.1, 13.2

  Williams, Serena

  Williams, Verna, itr.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 11.1, 12.1

  Wilson, August

  Wilson, Eleanor Kaye (Mama Kaye)

  Wilson, James

  Wilson, Jeffrey

  Wilson, William Julius, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  Winfrey, Oprah, 9.1, 15.1

  Wingspread conference

  Winter, Melissa, 10.1, 11.1

  Wintersmith, Reynolds

  Wisconsin, 3.1, 7.1, 11.1

  women, 4.1, 10.1, 11.1, 13.1, 15.1

  in business

  election of 2008 and, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 13.1

  women (continued)

  election of 2012 and, 14.1, 14.2, 14.3

  Harvard and, 5.1, 5.2

  identity issues of, 4.1, 13.1

  as lawyers, 5.1, 6.1

  low-income

  in military

  in military families

  at Princeton, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  voting by, 5.1, 11.1, 12.1, 12.2

  Women, Infants and Children program

  Women’s Conference

  Wonder, Stevie, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 7.1, 11.1, 14.1, 15.1

  work ethic, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1

  Barack and, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 9.1

  working class, itr.1, 3.1, 5.1, 7.1, 8.1

  Barack’s views on

  Michelle’s background in, itr.1, 1.1, 2.1, 4.1, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 12.1, 12.2, 15.1, epi.1

  veterans in

  World War II, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 6.1, 11.1, 14.1

  Wright, Bruce M.

  Wright, Jeremiah A., Jr., 7.1, 9.1, 11.1, 15.1

  Wright, Richard, 1.1, 2.1, 6.1

  Wu, Jason

  Yale University, 3.1, 5.1, 8.1, 12.1

  “Yes, we can,” 184–5

  “Yes We Can” (video)

  Young, Andrew

  Young, Whitney, 3.1, 8.1

  Illustrations

  Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, as a young woman in Chicago, where her parents settled after moving from the South.

  Michelle’s father, Fraser C. Robinson III, shown here in a high school yearbook photo, took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

  Michelle and her brother, Craig, twenty-one months older, who said they had the “Shangri-La of upbringings” in working-class Chicago.

  Kindergarten at Bryn Mawr Elementary in 1970. Michelle is second from the right in the second row from the top.

  Michelle as a first-grader on the South Side of Chicago.

  Michelle commuted across town to Whitney Young High School, a diverse magnet school, where she was a class officer and a member of the honor society.

  Michelle, seventeen years old when she reached Princeton in 1981, struggled at first.

  Majoring in sociology, Michelle said white students often perceived her as “Black first and a student second.”

  Michelle dated Stanley Stocker-Edwards, a fellow Harvard Law student. She said later, “My family swore I would never find a man that would put up with me.”

  Michelle and Harvard Law friend Susan Page, appointed U.S. ambassador to South Sudan in the Obama administration.

  Michelle visited Barack’s family in Hawaii in 1989, the year they met at a Chicago law firm.

  Michelle and Barack were married in 1992, by the Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

  Barack and Michelle visited Kenya, the home country of Barack’s father.

  In the first apartment she and Barack owned in Chicago, Michelle stands beside a photograph of Judith Jamison dancing Alvin Ailey’s iconic work “Cry.”

  “I was never happier in my life,” Michelle said, than when building a leadership program at Public Allies in Chicago in the mid-1990s.

  Barack, Michelle, and Malia on election day in 2000. Barack lost the congressional p
rimary to Representative Bobby Rush by thirty points and entered what an aide called his “morose period.”

  With Sasha in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on July 4, 2007. Michelle curtailed campaign time and her White House schedule to be home for her daughters.

  Michelle and Barack strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue during Barack’s first inaugural. Designer Isabel Toledo said Michelle made it safe for women to take fashion risks.

  Michelle, wearing a Jason Wu gown later donated to the Smithsonian, shares a moment with Barack after dancing at the 2009 inaugural ball.

  Michelle in her first official White House photograph, beneath the gaze of Thomas Jefferson.

  Delighting in fashion, Michelle took advantage of public occasions to showcase designers and an ever-changing array of styles.

  Michelle saw progress when Jacob Philadelphia, age five, told the first African American president, “I want to know if my hair is just like yours.” Barack invited him to see for himself.

  After she launched Let’s Move!, Michelle said, “I’m pretty much willing to make a complete fool out of myself to get our kids moving.”

  Michelle made the rounds at federal agencies, drawing crowds armed with cell phone cameras. In October 2011, she visited Secret Service headquarters.

  Calling Washington her new hometown, Michelle hoped to set an example for disadvantaged children, here visiting Ferebee Hope Elementary School.

  After Barack’s November 2012 reelection, Michelle launched Reach Higher to expand higher education and training, particularly for low-income students.

  Hugs became Michelle’s signature gesture, intended as a symbol that the first lady cared. As part of her Joining Forces initiative, she met military families in Minnesota in March 2012.

  Michelle increasingly used social media to spread her message. In 2014, she spoke up for Nigerian girls kidnapped by the extremist group Boko Haram.

  Michelle, Barack, and Malia at a Team USA basketball game.

  Local schoolchildren and White House staff helped Michelle plant the first vegetable garden on the White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt’s time.

  Michelle, in a tug-of-war with Jimmy Fallon, did spoofs and comedy sketches to advance childhood fitness and nutrition.

  Posing here with Sesame Street characters in October 2013. Michelle developed partnerships to draw attention to her initiatives, including Joining Forces.

  When Barack congratulated the Miami Heat on their latest NBA championship, stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade did a video about healthy eating with Michelle.

  Applause for Michelle, wearing a Michael Kors design, at Barack’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in January 2015.

  Marian Robinson, standing beside Michelle, moved into the third floor of the White House. “I can always go up to her room and cry, complain, argue,” Michelle said. “And she just says, ‘Go on back down there and do what you’re supposed to do.’ ”

  Michelle and Barack shooting an ad for the 2012 campaign. The win gave them four more years and a greater sense of freedom. Shortly before turning fifty, Michelle said, “I have never felt more confident in myself, more clear on who I am as a woman.”