Filed under: News, President Obama
Reporter Janny Scott spent two years compiling information for a book on President Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham (pictured above with her first husband, Barack Obama Sr.).
The book, "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother," was adapted into a six-page article in the New York Times, which is a delightfully inquisitive journey of the woman who was, as President Obama would later write, "the single constant in [his] life."
Scott merges those who knew Dunham with unexpected quotes and dialogue, illustrating a complex woman of courage who had a high-moral compass: Intentionally or not, the label [of being known as just a white woman from Kansas] obscures an extraordinary story - of a girl with a boy's name who grew up in the years before the women's movement, the pill and the antiwar movement; who married an African at a time when nearly two dozen states still had laws against interracial marriage; who, at 24, moved to Jakarta with her son in the waning days of an anticommunist bloodbath in which hundreds of thousands of Indonesians were slaughtered; who lived more than half her adult life in a place barely known to most Americans, in the country with the largest Muslim population in the world; who spent years working in villages where a lone Western woman was a rarity; who immersed herself in the study of blacksmithing, a craft long practiced exclusively by men; who, as a working and mostly single mother, brought up two biracial children; who believed her son in particular had the potential to be great; who raised him to be, as he has put it jokingly, a combination of Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Harry Belafonte; and then died at 52, never knowing who or what he would become.
Another highlight presents Dunham as a stoic and steely matriarch when her son is attacked with racist jeers in Indonesia:
After lunch, the group [including Dunham, Barry and friend Elizabeth Bryant] took a walk, with Barry running ahead. A flock of Indonesian children began lobbing rocks in his direction. They ducked behind a wall and shouted racial epithets. He seemed unfazed, dancing around as though playing dodge ball "with unseen players," Bryant said. Ann did not react. Assuming she must not have understood the words, Bryant offered to intervene. "No, he's O.K.," Ann said. "He's used to it."
"We were floored that she'd bring a half-black child to Indonesia, knowing the disrespect they have for blacks," Bryant said. At the same time, she admired Ann for teaching her boy to be fearless.
Dunham always had the highest expectations for her son. She even spoke about Obama being president of the United States as a child:
It was clear to many that Ann believed Barry, in particular, was unusually gifted. She would boast about his brains, his achievements, how brave he was. Benji Bennington, a friend of Ann's from Hawaii, told me, "Sometimes when she talked about Barack, she'd say, 'Well, my son is so bright, he can do anything he ever wants in the world, even be president of the United States.' I remember her saying that." Samardal Manan, who taught with Ann in Jakarta, remembered Ann saying something similar - that Barry could be, or perhaps wanted to be, the first black president.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Lolo asked Barry one evening, according to Saman.
"Oh, prime minister," Barry answered.
Even if you are not an Obama fan, this book sheds light on a woman who dared to live as she saw fit. Apparently, Dunham was able develop and rear the first black president of the United States while creating an existence that she could be proud of.
Also check out her timeline.
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