{"id":34045,"date":"2021-05-18T10:06:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T14:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=34045"},"modified":"2021-05-21T00:01:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T04:01:40","slug":"barack-obama-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama: Harvard Law and Finding His Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Did Barack Obama go to Harvard Law School? What inspired him to attend and what were his goals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the time Barack Obama got to Harvard, he had transformed from an aimless teen into an ambitious young man. Obama wanted to understand how to use the law to help the poor and vulnerable in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about Barack Obama, Harvard Law School, and what he learned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barack Obama at a Crossroads After Harvard Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1988, Barack entered Harvard Law School. He was now fiercely ambitious, although this hardly distinguished him from his Ivy league classmates. He relished the experience of studying and debating the law, while grappling with the same ideas that had fascinated him since his teenage years. What was the individual\u2019s relationship to society? How much of a role should the government play in regulating the free enterprise system? And what are the mechanisms that drive social change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>He learned that the power of the law had often been wielded on behalf of the wealthy and powerful\u2014but that it could also be used to give voice to the voiceless and empower the powerless. <\/strong>Barack excelled at Harvard Law, and in 1990 was named the first Black editor of the <em>Harvard Law Review<\/em>. He also inked a publishing deal to write the book that would become his first memoir: <em>Dreams From My Father<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barack was at a crossroads. With his achievements and trailblazing status at Harvard, the door to a prominent (and lucrative) law career was wide open. He could have a prestigious clerkship with a federal judge, possibly even a Supreme Court justice, and then land a coveted partnership at any high-powered law firm he chose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But he wasn\u2019t sure that this was the path he wanted to take. It would have given him a comfortable and privileged life\u2014but would it satisfy his hunger to effect sweeping change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Entering Public Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>While he was weighing his options for his future, Barack met a young woman who would change the course of his life.<\/strong> In 1989, he was working a summer internship at a Chicago law firm when he met a young associate named Michelle Robinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barack was immediately drawn to Michelle\u2014her beauty, her quiet self-confidence, and her fierce intelligence. Michelle soon became not just Barack\u2019s lover, but the closest friend he\u2019d ever known\u2014the closest friend he ever <em>would <\/em>know.&nbsp;Although Michelle was no less driven than Barack, her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-path-to-success\/\">path to success<\/a> was different. As a Black woman from the South Side of Chicago, she knew that that path was beset by potential pitfalls and roadblocks.<strong> Because of her race and her gender, she understood that she would always have to prove to others that she belonged in the r<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did Barack Obama go to Harvard Law School? What inspired him to attend and what were his goals? By the time Barack Obama got to Harvard, he had transformed from an aimless teen into an ambitious young man. Obama wanted to understand how to use the law to help the poor and vulnerable in the country. Read more about Barack Obama, Harvard Law School, and what he learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,15,33],"tags":[274],"class_list":["post-34045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-education","category-people","tag-a-promised-land","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Barack Obama: Harvard Law and Finding His Path - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After working in local politics in Chicago, Barack Obama attended Harvard Law School. 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He sought to use the law to help the nation improve.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-18T14:06:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-21T04:01:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/harvard-law-cambridge-campus-trees.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Barack Obama: Harvard Law and Finding His Path\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-18T14:06:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-21T04:01:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/harvard-law-cambridge-campus-trees.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"A Promised Land\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Career\",\"Education\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/\",\"name\":\"Barack Obama: Harvard Law and Finding His Path - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/barack-obama-harvard\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/harvard-law-cambridge-campus-trees.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-18T14:06:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-21T04:01:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"After working in local politics in Chicago, Barack Obama attended Harvard Law School. 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