Giving Back to the Community: Obama’s Presidential Library &
Museum Will Be Built In Chicago
Article By EEW News Staff:: Photo Credit: Obama Foundation Video
President Barack Obama is giving back to the community that molded him.
In a video released early Tuesday morning, he and first lady Michelle Obama announced that his
presidential library and museum will be built on the South Side of Chicago.
“All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago," the
president said an inspiring video while seated next to his wife. "That’s where I was able to apply that
early idealism to try to work in communities in public service. That’s where I met my wife. That’s where
my children were born.”
Mrs. Obama, who eyed her husband attentively while he spoke also said she was "thrilled to be able to
put this resource in the heart of the neighborhood that means the world to me. Every value, every
memory, every important relationship to me exists in Chicago. I consider myself a South Sider.”
The University of Chicago beat out its competitors, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia
University and the University of Hawaii, which also boasted about their ties to Obama and vehemently
pursued the opportunity to host his presidential center.
Obama's birthplace, the city of Honolulu in Hawaii, was also a finalist, but, according to insiders, Chicago
was the favorite.
The choice is no doubt fitting.
Obama got his start as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side after graduating from Harvard
Law School. After leaping over into politics, he represented the South Side in the Illinois State Senate. He
later became a U.S. Senator after winning the election statewide in Illinois.
Now, after choosing Chicago, the president has high hopes that the city will economically benefit from the
influx of tourists visiting his presidential library. This could create new jobs and opportunities for local
residents.
"With a library and a foundation on the South Side of Chicago, not only will we be able to encourage and
effect change locally but what we can also do is attract the world to Chicago," Obama said in the video.
He continued, "The people there, the community, the lessons that I learned -- they're all based right in
this few square miles where we'll now be able to give something back and bring the world back home
after this incredible journey.”
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