Kammala wannan jumla: An haifi Obama a Honolulu, Hawaii. Bayan kammala karatunsa daga Jami'ar Columbia a 1983, ya yi aiki a matsayin mai shirya al'umma a Chicago. A shekara ta 1988, ya shiga Makarantar Koyon Koyon Shari'a ta Harvard, inda ya kasance shugaban baƙar fata na farko na "Harvard Law Review". Bayan kammala karatunsa, ya zama lauya mai kare hakkin jama'a kuma masanin kimiyya, yana koyar da dokar tsarin mulki a Jami'ar Chicago Law School daga 1992 zuwa 2004. Da yake juyawa zuwa zaɓen siyasa, ya wakilci gundumar 13 a Majalisar Dattawa ta Illinois daga 1997 zuwa 2004, lokacin da ya yi takarar Majalisar Dattawa ta Amurka. Obama ya sami kulawar kasa a shekara ta 2004 tare da nasarar da ya yi a majalisar dattijai a watan Maris, jawabin da ya yi a watan Yuli na Jam'iyyar Democratic National Convention, da kuma zabensa a watan Nuwamba zuwa majalisar dattijai. A shekara ta 2008, shekara guda bayan fara
yaƙin neman zaɓe, kuma bayan kamfen na farko na kusa da Hillary Clinton, Jam'iyyar Democrat ta zaɓe shi a matsayin shugaban ƙasa. An zabi Obama a kan dan takarar Republican John McCain a babban zaben kuma an rantsar da shi tare da abokin takararsa, Joe Biden, a ranar 20 ga Janairu, 2009. Watanni tara bayan haka, an nada shi a matsayin wanda ya lashe kyautar Nobel ta zaman lafiya ta 2009.