Family of Barack Obama

"It's like a little mini-United Nations, I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."―Barack Obama, at an interview in 2006.

Barack Hussein Obama II, the former US president, is the first African-American president of the United States. He was sworn in as President on 5th November, 2008 for the first term, and his second term commenced on January 20, 2013.

He is known to give his family, both immediate and extended, the utmost importance. All of his family members belong to diverse backgrounds. His family is made up of the African-American, Kenyan, Indonesian, and Irish heritages.

Barack Obama was born to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father belonged to Kenya, while his mother belonged to Kansas in the US. They got divorced when he was two, and his mother married an Indonesian oil manager named Lolo Soetoro when he was six.

Obama's immediate family is known as the 'First Family' of the United States. He has a wife Michelle Obama, and two daughters Malia and Natasha Obama. The Obamas are a closely knit family.

Michelle Robinson Obama, the first lady of the United States, is a lawyer by profession. She met Barack Obama in June 1989 at a Chicago law firm. They got engaged in 1991 and got married on 3rd October, 1992. She also served as vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

Malia was born in 1998, and Natasha, also known as Sasha, was born in 2001. Natasha is the youngest White House resident. They both attend the Sidwell Friends School, a private school in Washington, DC, also attended formerly by children of former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and Richard Nixon.

Barack Obama has many paternal and maternal relatives belonging to diverse heritages. A few of them live in the United States, while the others are scattered in Kenya, Indonesia, and other countries.

His paternal grandparents were Habiba Akumu Obama and Hussein Onyango Obama. His grandfather was a cook by profession, and had converted into Islam. They belonged to the rural village of Nyangoma Kogalo in western Kenya.

His maternal grandparents were Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham (1922-2008) and Stanley Armour Dunham (1918-1992). His maternal grandmother was the vice president of a bank in Hawaii, while his grandfather was a furniture salesman and also a US army sergeant during World War II.

His father-in-law, Fraser Robinson, was secretary at a bank. His mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has been a constant source of support to him, especially during the polls. She lives with the Obamas at the White House.

Other relatives of President Obama include Charles Thomas Payne (great maternal uncle), Malik Obama (half-brother), Maya Soetoro-Ng (half-sister), Konrad Ng ( brother-in-law, Maya Ng's husband), Kezia Obama (stepmother), Auma Obama (half sister), David Ndesandjo (half-brother), Zeituni Onyango (half-aunt), and Craig Robinson (Michelle Obama's brother).

Barack Obama also has many distant relatives, and it also has been established by genealogists that George. W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. President, is his 11th cousin!