Parents of Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States, but has been a first in several areas. He is the first president to not be completely of European-American descent. He's the first to be born in Hawaii. The story of his birth has been recently surrounded with controversy, with people saying his real name is not even Obama but Soetoro, and that he was not born in the United States at all and should not be considered eligible to serve as a U.S. president.

However these allegations are in large part caused by a lack of due diligence on the part of the general public. Most people simply do not know about Barack Obama's early childhood. This, combined with a personal bias against Barack Obama on the issues, leads to a propensity to spread falsehoods, sometimes inadvertently.

The parents of Barack Obama were Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. Ann had been given the first name "Stanley" because her parents had always wanted a son. Barack Sr was a Kenyan citizen studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa on a student visa. At the time of marrying Ann, Barack Sr was still married to a woman back in Kenya, although Ann did not learn of this until many years later. The parents of young Barack separated when he was only two years old and were divorced a year later. Barack Sr returned to Kenya to marry yet again and become the father of David and Mark Ndesandjo.

Ann later remarried Lolo Soetoro, who was originally from Indonesia, and where the family subsequently moved. This marriage was the backbone of young Barack's childhood life, as his biological father was someone he saw only once before the man passed away in 1982. Because of Lolo's early involvement in the situation, rumors have been spread that allege that Barack Obama Jr is actually an Indonesian citizen, Barry Soetoro.

Ann eventually divorced Soetoro but encouraged her children to keep in contact with their respective fathers. Although the marriages did not work out, there has been comparatively little hard feelings among parties involved.