Becoming Michelle Obama

Becoming Michelle Obama

If it had been solely up to Michelle Obama, Barack Obama might never have run for President of the United States. Becoming by Michelle Obama is one of the most ”no holds barred” memoirs. Released in 2018, the book was well received worldwide. Michelle Obama is popular as a former First Lady of the United States of America, and she is also a prominent representative of black women. The world was ready to celebrate her and read her life story – all 400 pages of it.

Becoming is a consistent and detailed memoir of everything you would want to know about what makes Michelle Obama the person she is. It is a complete life story from her parent’s two-bedroom apartment on Euclid Avenue in South Central Chicago to the White House.

The memoir unlocks the former First Lady’s childhood and then paints a picture of a young woman who has always strived for excellence and placed the onus on herself to take personal responsibility in her school career. Her brilliance as a student was discovered as early as kindergarten.

This book also underlines the importance of a stable home. Both her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, were committed not only to their children's education but also their overall well-being despite the family’s limited resources. They come across as incredibly supportive parents. What I admire most is that they went into parenthood determined to give their two children the very best they could offer. Michelle's older brother Craig was the first to go to Princeton University and Michelle followed suit a few years later, despite being told by a school counselor that she was not Princeton material.

Michelle Obama studied at Princeton and Harvard Law School in the 80s and in her book the chapters on that time in her life mostly deal with being a minority, facing discrimination and trying to excel in an environment that was not very diverse. Michelle's passion for inclusive education really sparked when she worked at the Third World Centre in Princeton. After graduating in law Michelle started to work at a law firm in Chicago. This is where she met Barack Obama – he was an intern, she was his mentor. While at the law firm Michelle pondered her life purpose and discovered that being a lawyer might not be her calling.

Michelle and Barack's love story is one for the ages. Despite both of them being ambitious individuals with a passion for serving and excelling, we learn in Becoming that they are very different in other ways. While Michelle is orderly and enjoys strategising, Barack is not the neatest. Even worse, he smoked back then – a habit Michelle loathed. But what you can learn from their relationship is what can be achieved when partners support each other's individual dreams.

Michelle's time in the White House as the first African American First Lady was very purposeful. In the book she details her ideas and goals for tenure as First lady and flawlessly executed each and every one of them. One of her resolutions, which I highly respect, was not to tackle policy issues as the First Lady. She decided on this caution in view of Hilary Clinton’s role in the White House. Michelle really set out to support the President’s policy with her own East Wing initiatives such as the Let’s Move programme and the White House vegetable garden. The latter was inspired by the President’s determination to reform the American people's health care attitudes.

Until I read Becoming I didn’t realise how many misconceptions I had about Michelle Obama, perpetuated in the media over the years. Michelle tackles the subject of being “an angry black woman” head on. However, the biggest misconception was the notion that by virtue of being married to a politician, Michelle must love politics. For me it is admirable that she supported his dreams while ensuring that she also maintained her own wellbeing, achieved her own dreams, kept her individual identity outside of being known as Barack Obama’s wife.

Let me be honest, the memoir is not a page-turner. But many have come to the conclusion that this brick of a book is far from boring. I recommend you take a weekend and read the book all in one go, it flows better that way. There is a lesson to be learnt on almost every page and it leads the reader to asking poignant questions of themselves and wondering about their own life purpose.

Ultimately, Michelle Obama is someone who epitomises black excellence. The biggest take away for me as a black woman is that we don’t need to beg for inclusion and that we have a right to a seat at the table. Finally, in the words of former Miss Universe Zozi Tunzi, this book will inspire you to, “take up space and cement your place in society.”

Laimi Elago