With Sen. Barack Obama’s meteoric political career resulting in him becoming the first Black major party candidate for the U.S. presidency, it’s worth noting how Black Issues in Higher Education, the predecessor to Diverse, has covered him over the years. Black Issues chronicled Obama when he came into prominence with his historic 1990 election as the president of the Harvard Law Review. That election, the first ever for any Black at what is considered the most prestigious, student-run law review in the United States, gave national exposure to Obama, foreshadowing his career of high accomplishment.
In “Opening Another Door: The Saga of Harvard’s Barack H. Obama” from the March 15, 1990, edition of Black Issues, former staff writer Gaynelle Evans discovers a young man whose canny self-awareness is captured vividly in the quotes he provides. “People like myself are learning a certain language of mainstream society of power and decision making … .We have an obligation to go back to the Black community, to listen and learn and help give our people a voice,” Obama told Evans.
In 2004, Diverse senior writer Ronald Roach, then a Black Issues senior writer, caught up with Obama in central Illinois as he campaigned for the U.S. Senate during a tour of Illinois community colleges. In a feature article, “Obama Rising,” in the Oct. 7, 2004 edition of Black Issues, and the interview text that accompanied it, “On the Road with Barack Obama,” Obama revealed a wide range of views, including those on U.S. education and how his stint as a lecturer at the University of Chicago law school helped shape his political career.
Check out our previous coverage of Obama here:
Click Here to read article from the March 15, 1990 edition of Black Issues In Higher Education.
Click Here to read article from the October 7, 2004 edition of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.
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