Keeping Hope Alive

In July 2004, Barack Obama burst onto the political scene with an electrifying speech at the Democratic National Convention. Months later, he won an Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate and became the nation's only African-American U.S. senator.

Newsweek magazine calls Senator Obama "a political phenomenon unlike any previously seen on the American scene." Since being elected, Senator Obama has been on the cover of Vogue magazine and won a Grammy® for best spoken word album. He even has a beer named after him!

Life wasn't always so blessed for Senator Obama. As the son of a white mother from Wichita, Kansas, and a black father from Kenya, he faced many challenges as a child. He lived in Indonesia, Hawaii, New York and Chicago before heading to Boston to attend Harvard Law School. After law school, he moved back to Chicago to become a civil rights attorney, community activist and an Illinois State Senator.

Today, Senator Obama's not only one of Oprah's representatives in the United States Senate, she says he's also her favorite senator!