When he returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts to complete Harvard Law School, they continue to correspond and date. Michelle Robinson first met Barack Obama when he came to work as a summer associate in June of 1989 at Sidley & Austin, where she was already working as an attorney. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, Michelle Robinson joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she he specialized in intellectual property rights and marketing, representing clients that included AT&T and Union Carbide. In July 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended. Michelle Obama is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after her two immediate predecessors, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases. Graduating cum laude, she went on to study for a career in law. Moving on to college, Michelle Robinson studied sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. Michelle graduated from high school in 1981 as salutatorian fo her class. Her classmates included Santita Jackson, the daughter of Jesse Jackson. Michelle excelled in school, she was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer. Michelle Robinson attended Whitney Young High School, Chicago's first magnet high school, where she had a commute of three hours a day. The living room, converted with a divider down the middle, served as Michelle's bedroom. The family lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a brick bungalow.
Michelle's mother stayed home with her children until they reached high school. Her father, a city pump operator and Democratic precinct captain, worked and lived with multiple sclerosis his limp and crutches did not affect his abilities as the family breadwinner. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois to Marian and Fraser Robinson III. Michelle Obama is the wife of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States.As the wife of a Senator, and later the First Lady, she has become a fashion icon and role model for women, and a notable advocate for poverty awareness and healthy eating. Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook. "It's important for them to know that this person who's so famous and has this platform thinks that they are beautiful and smart and kind and good in every sense."Ĭorrection: This story has been corrected to reflect that Obama said if her words are not fixing a problem, she is not going high enough. When I'm with a young person, I want them to know that I hear them. "I take the words that I say to children very seriously. Obama, 56, told Winfrey that now she is very focused on her next chapter, which is to help the next generation of leaders. Anger may feel good in the moment, but it's not going to move the ball forward," Obama said. It shouldn't come from a place of anger or vengefulness. "It means that your response has to reflect the solution. "I believe that when you are a public figure, when you have any level of fame or if you have a platform, I believe and I always believe that I have a responsibility with that platform."Īnd "going high" doesn't mean you won't feel the hurt or have emotions when faced with a challenge, she told The New York Times in 2018. If her words are not fixing a problem or at least moving the needle in the right direction, she knows that she's not going high enough. So when I respond to something, I have to think about that," she said. "There is a bigger purpose for me out there.