Former President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle and their children Sasha and Malia returned to where their remarkable story began this week.
The grand opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center kicked off at 6001 S. Stony Island Ave. on Chicago’s South Side, with the general public welcome to visit the facility starting tomorrow.
“Hello Chicago! Sweet home Chicago,” Obama said during his opening remarks. “More than 40 years ago on a late summer afternoon in 1985 I arrived here in Chicago, entering the city through the very spot where this center now stands.”
Michelle began her speech highlighting her husband’s accomplishments.
“You told me all those years ago that you couldn’t promise me the world, but you could promise me an interesting life,” she said.
That life together started in Chicago in 1989 and took them all the way to the Oval Office. Michelle grew up in the South Side, while Obama moved to the city first in 1985 to work as a community organizer for the Developing Communities Project.
“I found my purpose here, and I fortified my faith here and I found my community here,” he said Thursday.
“Your mother, Toot, Gramps- you are a tribute to their love,” Michelle said, bringing him to tears. “They are up there grinning and hugging today because you never forgot who you are and where you came from. A single mother working hard to get by, get an education and show her son the world. Grandparents who didn’t have much, but they had the perfect recipe to nurture your flame.”
Chicago is woven into the fabric of the Obama’s story, and into their success.
“Michelle and I, our wedding reception was over at South Shore Cultural Center,” he said. “You could walk from here. Our daughters were born right down the street.”
It’s where they bought their first home, watched their kids take their first steps and where he launched his candidacy for the Illinois State Senate.
For them the Obama Presidential Center is designed to be a vibrant, living celebration of community and a stark reminder of the importance of democracy. It’s also their love letter to the place where it all began.
“For me this center could not be any place else,” Obama said. “It’s an expression of thanks, an acknowledgement that so much of what I hold most dear I owe to the people of this city, and the people of these surrounding neighborhoods.”
The center officially opens to the public June 19.
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