When Obama transferred to Columbia, he had gotten the fresh start he needed. It was in a sense a new life. No one knew him there and he could actually find himself and was not afraid to display what he had discovered. It was at this University where he decided to be called Barrack and not Barry. He explains that it was not a racial assertion, but more of a self assertion. He was different in so many ways more than just his African heritage. While at Columbia he refrained from drinking and the partying stopped.
Obama became transformed into this somber book worm. He studied eat slept, got up and went to class. He did this for two years and he recalls it as a pretty humorless time. He also made note of hoe the racial tensions there were hard to accept. He later became the director of Developing Communities Project a small community church based group in Chicago. The organization comprised of eight Catholic Parishes in Chicagoans far south side, Roseland, Riverdale, and West Pullman areas. From June 1985 to May 1988 he helped many poor and underprivileged South-side Chicagoans. He drew on some of his experiences as a boy, treating everyone with compassion and respect. His staff which consisted of 1, soon turned into 13 and the annual budget grew from $70 thousand to $400 thousand. He helped implemented several new programs including a college prep tutoring program and a jobs training program. He was instrumental in forming a tenant’s rights organization in Atgeld Gardens.
He learned the in and outs of the communities he advocated for. He also utilized his communication skills; He decided to attend Harvard law school and became the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. In February of 1990, he was elected Harvard Law Reviews first African American President.
He convinced several conservatives to vote for him by guaranteeing the backing of their interests. During his years at Harvard, he worked at Sidley & Austin as an associate from 1989 to 1990. Later in the summer of 1990, Obama worked at Hopkins & Sutter. During this time he went to many seminars and training courses. One course in particular, Alinsky methods of Organizing, proved to be extremely beneficial in Obama’s Campaign for the presidency. Obama graduated from Harvard in 1991 with a J.D. magna cum laude.
He turned down many opportunities including a judicial clerkship. He decided to return to Chicago as a civil rights lawyer. He spent much of his time advocating for the inner city communities.
Obama met Michele LaVaughn Robinson while at Sidley & Austin. One of the managing partners at this firm was Newton N Minow. Minow had very well known connections and introduced Obama to some of the most influential business leaders. Michele was also in the know. She was best friends with Reverend Jesse Jackson’s daughter. Her brother, Craig Robinson, played basketball with Marty Nesbitt, a well established and successful business man, who would later become best friends with Obama. In 1992 he married Michele LaVaughn Robinson and moved a South Side neighborhood in Chicago known as Hyde Park. Hyde Park is located in Cook County, Illinois and is a well integrated mostly middle class community. Both white and black Americans equally make up at least 80% of Hyde Park demographics.
A little over 11% are Asian and approximately 5% are Hispanic according to U.S. Census Record Information Services. Hyde Park is home to the Renaissance society and the University of Chicago
