Timeline: Events
Significant to the
Life of Barack Obama
1863 President Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation
Proclamation. Barack often associates himself with President
Lincoln. When he announced his candidacy for the
2008 election, he spoke in front of the Old State Capitol
Building in Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln famously
declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
1895 Barack’s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, is
born in Kenya.
1920 August 18—The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
is ratified, giving women the right to vote.
1929 January 15—Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is born.
1936 Barack’s father, Barack Obama Sr., is born in Kenya.
1940–1945 During World War II, Barack’s paternal grandfather, Hussein
Onyango Obama, serves as a cook to a British captain.
Stanley “Gramps” Dunham, Barack’s maternal grandfather,
and Madelyn “Toots” Dunham elope just prior to
the attacks at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Stanley
enlists in the army soon after the attacks, and Madelyn
works on a bomber plane assembly line.
Barack’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham (known as Ann),
is born in 1942, while her father, Stanley, is posted at an
army base.
1946 August 19—President William Clinton is born.
1947 October 26—Senator Hillary Clinton is born.
1953 June 10—Senator John Edwards is born.