Barack Obama: Crash Course Black American History #50

Barack Obama was the first Black man elected President in the United States in 2008. In this episode, Clint Smith will explore the early life, political career, presidential campaign, and legislative milestones of Barack Obama.

Thanks to the following patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:
Katie, Hilary Sturges, Austin Zielman, Tori Thomas, Justin Snyder, DL Singfield, Amelia Ryczek, Ken Davidian, Stephen Akuffo, Toni Miles, Steve Segreto, Kyle & Katherine Callahan, Laurel Stevens, Stacey Gillespie (Stacey J), Burt Humburg, Allyson Martin, Aziz Y, DAVID MORTON HUDSON, Perry Joyce, Scott Harrison, Mark & Susan Billian, Alan Bridgeman, Rachel Creager, Breanna Bosso, Matt Curls, Jonathan Zbikowski, Jennifer Killen, Sarah & Nathan Catchings, team dorsey, Trevin Beattie, Eric Koslow, Jennifer Dineen, Indika Siriwardena, Jason Rostoker, Shawn Arnold, Siobhán, Ken Penttinen, Nathan Taylor, Les Aker, William McGraw, ClareG, Rizwan Kassim, Constance Urist, Alex Hackman, Jirat, Pineapples of Solidarity ,Katie Dean, Thomas Greinert, Wai Jack Sin, Ian Dundore, Justin, Mark, Caleb Weeks

__

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[keyascott]

My grandpa told me once “one day there will be a black president. Me and your grandma won’t live to see it but you will” my grandpa died in 2006 three years before but my grandma who is still alive lived to see it. When he was elected that conversation came back to me. I said grandpa you said it and I know your smiling.

[redsparks]

"damned if you do and damned if you don't". such is the game of politics.

[diegobravo]

It is sadly uncommon to see content with such amazing quality. It is worthy of respect how you take your time to explain history and not rush through it like many content creators do. Especially considering you do not put obnoxious music over such serious topics. I also believe that you did great in adding contrasting opinions as it showcases not only how much you have researched but also how you want the viewer to actually learn the whole story. Thank you so much for providing such a service for free. Cheers from Uruguay.

[ivarrtullitt]

As a British person, whose never been the the USA, I find it bizarre how Americans refer the Obama as 'black'. Over here many seen him as mixed-race. Not to step on his accomplishment as being the first person of colour to become president, but it does show devide when he and many others see him as a black man instead of a man with both black and white ancestry. Obama being a product of people from both sides, I would have thought it would have created more unity, not more divide. I am mixed-race and the only time I'm reffered to as black is by people who don't know better, and I'm very quick to correct them on their terminology. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I sit in the clouds, but he wasn't black, he wasn't white. He was both and neither

[Sabertooth]

You should do an episode on Obama's foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.

[sir_ventt]

I'll start by saying, growing up in Utah. At first I thought this was the end to racism. Thst he could do it. It was finally gonna happen.
But I didn't understand race in middle school.

In high school, I was so shocked. That he wasn't American, thst police officers were going missing looking into him, he was gonna take our guns away!!!
I lived in a world where raido men wouldn't lie to me, that adults knew what they were talking about, and good people were always my neighbors and leaders.

What a small world I lived in. I'm glad I know better now, I'm glad I escaped those kinds of people in my life.

I hope this trend will oneday continue. We need more men like him in leadership.

[Hojotoho.Yall]

When they say “divisive, ” they mean, “ this is true but it makes me feel uncomfortable.”

[Thunderwalker]

I have been watching six episodes of this a day to catch up. This series has been enlightening to watch.

[johnhendrickson]

This intro brought me to tears. Thanks for this.

[bradmetcalf]

I’m a 40 year old conservative white American. I’m not ashamed to say that. I’m also not ashamed to say that my generation elected Obama president. Despite disagreeing with almost all of his political views, i was still proud of what our country did electing him. I have really enjoyed this series and have enjoyed telling my young children about the things i have learned. I can try to be as “ least racist” as possible but this series helped me understand that I will never understand what it is like to be a black man in America.

[sweetlolitaChii]

I remember Obama's 2008 win like it was yesterday. I was 13 and living in Alabama at the time, and I got tired of waiting for the results, so I went upstairs to go on the family computer. Suddenly, I heard my mom screaming from downstairs. Running up the stairs to where I was, she joyfully yelled "OBAMA'S GONNA BE THE PRESIDENT" and we both started dancing and jumping for joy. After years of Bush and having a brother-in-law in Iraq and Afghanistan, we were so excited about a smart, kind black man finally getting his chance at the white house

[Gangxisiyu]

Yes, I do have many issues with Obama's presidency, but you cannot deny the historic nature of his election, and that feeling when it happened.

[speedythunder]

The thing with Obama himself, Black Americans got happen base one the fact he was Black but he didn’t have any attention on fixing up the Black community in my opinion, he made life much harder.

[dischannelomine]

I'd just like to take a moment here to say; Thanks Obizzy.

[TB.]

I find it weird how important race is Obama isn't just a black man he was a man with many ideas who just happened to be black one thing I never hear about is barrack ideas or how he worked hard how he basically aged 10 years in 3 he looked so worn out just in 3 years

[caiden]

As someone who missed out on a lot of history and had a misinformed upbringing, I'm happy you're making these.🙂

[herecomesthatboy]

Scary to think this is already history. I still remember being in a restaurant for dinner on holiday as an 8 year old and my dad trying to explain to me the significance of a black man becoming president over there when he was elected.

[edfagan]

Last night, met a woman who thought the former president's name is 'Baracko Bama'

[froze]

A couple of tidbits missing from this video that I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt was due to time restraints.
1. The death of Trevon Martin and the BLM uprisings of 2014 and 2015 were a pretty clear result of the militarization of police through the "1033 Program". This was a program started under Pres Clinton to give cops the hand me downs of the US military. This was a fairly small trickle until Obama became president, with him opening the floodgates of all the surplus equipment from the post-Surge occupation of Iraq. It took those two uprisings to force the Obama admin to issue of "review" of the 1033 Program. The program is still ongoing.
2. The Dodd-Frank and Obamacare bills were more political and policy half-measures that were more focused on staving off the total collapse of the banking and healthcare systems, respectively, than actually making life all that much better for people. These acts were meant to quiet movements to break up the banks (and bring criminal charges to the bankers who's criminal negligence caused the mess) and finally drag the US into the civilized world of people being able to get healthcare without turning into a debt slave for the rest of your life. The Obamacare bill especially is an absolutely monstrous example of "public-private partnerships" just being that Trailer Park Boys bit about paying someone to fuck off. Instead of challenging the Health Insurance industry, the Obama admin just took Mitt Romney's idea of heavily subsidizing (paying off) health insurance companies in order to make poor people profitable for these companies. The rest of a universally hated system was kept mostly as is.

[phillipgrier]

I absolutely love these videos, your work is phenomenal!!