Column: Michelle Obama continues to make black history
Former first lady Michelle Obama is continuing to make black history.
Michelle is the wife of the 44th president, Barack Obama, and she was the first African-American First Lady of the United States, but that’s not all she’s famous for.
During her time as first lady, she decided her true calling was to work with people and to serve communities.
After her husband’s two terms, Michelle continued to support and inspire young people.
Born in Chicago in 1964, she later attended Princeton University and received a degree in sociology. She then graduated from Harvard with a juris doctorate degree.
She graduated in 1988 and started as an associate attorney at Sidley & Austin in Chicago where she later became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago.
Before becoming the first lady in 2009, she was an executive director for Community Affairs for the University of Chicago.
Just a few months after becoming the first lady she published “Michelle Obama: In Her Own Words.”
In 2010 she launched the national campaign, Let’s Move! to reduce childhood obesity and in April 2011 she joined forces with Jill Biden and launched the national veterans’ campaign called Joining Forces.
Michelle Obama traveled to Africa in June 2011 to focus on youth leadership, education, health and wellness.
Throughout the years she launched two national campaigns for the improvement of education.
November 20, 2019, she was nominated for a Grammy as the best-spoken word album for the audio version of “becoming” and in the same year, for the second time, she ranked as the woman most admired by Americans.
This year, Michelle won a Grammy award for the audio version of her best-selling memoir, “Becoming.”
Overall, Michelle Obama has done so much for America. She brings awareness to the importance of staying healthy and encourages students to further their education by launching educational programs such as Reach Higher.
She also helps disadvantaged individuals around the world by helping to grant women access to education, supporting military families and inspiring black children across America to chase their dreams.
She is a reminder for students at USC Aiken that dreams should be chased and can be accomplished.
In the words of Michelle Obama: “Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”
