5 Things You (likely) Never Knew About President Obama’s Mum:

[bigtree]

Five unordinary facts about President Obama’s mother compiled by ABC News include:

President Obama’s mother’s full name is Stanley Ann Dunham. Although she used her middle name for the majority of her adult life, Dunham went by Stanley throughout grade school, the name that her father, who wanted a son, gave her.

Over the course of Dunham’s short life - she died when she was in her early 50s - she went by four different names. Growing up it was Stanley Dunham. In college she was Ann Dunham. During her first marriage, to Barack Obama’s father, she was Ann Obama. And after her second marriage she was Ann Soetoro.

Dunham died a few weeks short of her 53rd birthday, of uterine and ovarian cancer, two years before her son was elected to the Illinois state senate.

It may have taken her two decades and countless trips back-and-forth between Indonesia and the University of Hawaii to complete, but in 1992 Ann Dunham was awarded her Ph.D. in anthropology. Her 1,000-page dissertation explored the indigenous craft of blacksmithing in Indonesia, a topic she had studied for more than 20 years. She died two years after completing it.

She had instilled in her son the importance of education, making him rise before the sun came up to do his homework. She would tell people that her son was gifted, “that he can do anything he ever wants in the world, even be president of the United States.”


read more: http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/and-more/5-things-u-never-knew-about-president-obama-s-mum_111262.htm

[alphafemale]

1. And her son stole her face.

Oh...you can see that. My bad.

[GoCubsGo]

2. Her oldest granddaughter, too.

The spitting image...

[alphafemale]

3. Just back dated. She never got to see either of her grandbabies.

Did she even get to meet the future first lady?

[Ilsa]

4. The Obama's married in October 1992, so my guess is yes,

She met her before her death in November 1995. She died before Malia and Sasha were born.

But she was in Indonesia a long time before her cancer diagnosis, so I wonder how well she knew Michelle.

[Myrina]

52. I think he looks like his maternal grand dad.

[alphafemale]

55. same thing really nt

[goclark]

5. What a wonderful Mother

Thanks for posting this on Mother's Day and hello to all the wonderful Moms on DU

[freshwest]

7. +1

[UTUSN]

6. R#10 & K for, I just sent this to a raving wingnut who sputtered "Flake" about her.

That would be his PUBLIC word for her.

[freshwest]

8. A great mom who Obama said passed for lack of healthcare soon enough.

Thanks for that story and that is exactly where he got his looks from. Real life and real people with a lot of love.

And this is where the wing nuts get the designation 'Soetoro' from, her second husband. Where do these people get off? Do they refer to all children of divorced parents in such a way? I don't think so. They should be ashamed of themselves.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. so sad!

And, about repukes ---- "They should be ashamed of themselves."

yes, you're not kidding. For SO many things.

But they never are!

[malaise]

20. They both got those looks from this man

[TahitiNut]

23. It's amazing how much he resembles his grandfather.

It's ALMOST like young Barack is sitting on the shoulders of the elder Barack.

[malaise]

39. They do look alike

[freshwest]

24. What a sweet picture. How can the right possibly say Obama hates white people? They're crazy.

Guess they come from less functional families than the President did.

[malaise]

41. They know better but it's part of the propaganda

[freshwest]

42. Part of the double-secret, reverse-reverse racism plot. Okay, I got it. LOL!

[blaze]

43. I've seen this pic before

but every time I look at it, it makes me grin from ear to ear!

They DO look SO much alike!!!

He kinda lucked out in the maternal Grand Parent department.

[malaise]

57. It really is a lovely photo

He was a lucky kid to have grandparents who loved him.

[alphafemale]

56. I love this picture. Not just that it melts your heart.

But I also love the look of that 60's and 70's era Kodachrome.

Makes all the world a sunny day....oh yeah.

[malaise]

58. LOL

hehehe

[polichick]

9. Kind of mean of her parents to name her Stanley - jeez...

...because her dad wanted a boy?!

[fasttense]

11. I thought the same thing.

The poor girl growing up knowing her parents always wanted a boy instead.

Every time she said or heard her name she would be reminded of that fact. What a perfectly horrible thing to do to a baby girl.

[CBHagman]

13. I've known a few cases of that.

In my graduating class there was a girl named Allen. I don't know what her parents' motivation was, but I do know her sisters also had masculine-sounding names.

[barbtries]

28. i had a girl cousin named christopher

and it was her mother who had wanted a boy that badly. she sent out announcements (this was well before the internet) that didn't reveal the baby's sex so most people assumed it was a boy.

[eridani]

46. Not sure that naming your kids after interstate highway exit signs is much of an improvement

Madison (Wisconsin?) Kennedy (Expressway?)

[spooky3]

53. Actually, "Madison" refers to Madison Av,

The name boomed in popularity after the movie "Splash", when the mermaid was exploring New York and saw the street sign. When asked her name she used it.

[Darth_Kitten]

14. Exactly.

n/t

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. really.

sure am glad she taught her son that women are people!

[freshwest]

26. My dad wanted a son, too. Was going to name my older sister after himself but she was, well, a girl!

So they just changed a couple of letters. They thought I'd be a boy, too, planned to name me after my grandfather. When I was born and was... Meh!

Another girl, they altered a couple of letters as well. Dad then tired to teach my sister to do things around the house, but it didn't work. I ended up being the tomboy and picked a career he might have liked. But he didn't live to see it.

I don't think that level of silly existed for Obama's mother. She seemed to have a clear vision of where she was going, even though she didn't live as long as she could have.

[noamnety]

21. He may have done her a favor

There's some evidence that women with masculine names are more financially successful. Not sure if that's because the parents also foster more values thought of as masculine, or whether it's because of the bias against women by the rest of the world.

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/boys-names-better-for-girls-20091027-hih6.html

[freshwest]

22. It was a certain generation. I had an aunt whose first name was 'Burns' after an inlaw's last name.

I thought it was rather odd but didn't mention it, and she never complained. Her middle name was 'Lulu' after an aunt. She wrote her name as Bernice, but her brothers called her 'Burnie.' Just different times.

[JDPriestly]

25. It was a blessing for her. I am about the same age that Stanley Ann Dunham

would have been had she lived. Girls were pretty limited by the social strictures of the time. Having a boy's name was probably an advantage to her. It may have widened her expectations for herself and taught her to respect the limitations her society wanted to place on her.

Anyway, she certainly did not stop at the boundaries that were placed around the rest of us women who came of age in the early 1960s.

[madmom]

27. My mom went through the same thing.....

her dad THOUGHT she was a boy (back then men had nothing to do with babies, so her mom let him think that for about 6 months) He named her Richard. She still to this day answers to Richard by closed family members, her real name is Laura.

[kestrel91316]

33. I had an uncle named Shirley (born about 1920). He didn't feel like my grandparents were mean.

He DID, however box in Golden Gloves for a time and did quite well, lol. And he became a man of the law.

[Raine]

47. That's why I think too, it's just wrong. nt

[provis99]

48. my Uncle Ronald named his daughter after himself.

He just called her Rona, instead of Ronald. ah, the monumentalism of the male ego...

[riverwalker]

10. Thank you, Ann

you did well, and the world is better for it.

[patrice]

17. 1++++++++++++++++++++++

Sat nam!

... and Thank you, Riverwalker!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

19. let me second patrice's comment: 1++++++++++++++++++++++

how true. really makes you stop and think........very very deep.

[Darth_Kitten]

12. It's too bad her own father didn't have faith in HER.

Given a name that's a constant reminder on how she "failed" by being the wrong sex.

Her own accomplishments were noteworthy in and of themselves.

[kestrel91316]

34. I think you probably don't know much about their relationship.

I happen to think they probably had a close relationship, and the name was likely the source of much laughter between them.

[Darth_Kitten]

36. I think you probably don't know much about their relationship.

You are making a judgement call as well, you know?

[kestrel91316]

37. Yes, and it's so easy to pass judgement. Which would be my point.

I have heard no accounts that indicate she suffered because of her name or hated her father for it. Have YOU??

[xmas74]

45. I don't know.

It really depends on how she and her family handled the name. I've known other women with men's names that have done well for themselves-childhood usually being the hardest time for them. By the time they become adults they often come to respect their unusual names.

(This being said by someone who has a rather unusual feminized version of a very masculine name. It's awful to deal with as a child but as an adult it's something I gain many compliments over. If someone calls out my name I don't have to worry about twenty other women turning around to respond. It seems to me that she dealt with it well.)

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. Wow, that makes me

want the smiling smilie with a tear in the eye!! Again!

Dang it, I still can't find one of those!!!

[silverweb]

29. Will this do?

[musical_soul]

30. What a wonderful mom....

I already knew that though when Obama said his mother would get him up early in the morning for tutoring. When he complained, she was like "This isn't a picnic for me either, buster!" She took responsibility for her child in all the ways a mom should.

Happy Mother's Day, everybody!

[Tx4obama]

31. Lots of PHOTOS of Obama's Mom and Grandmother in the VIDEO below

p.s. And a great photo at the 1:18 minute mark which includes Obama's sister Maya

[bigtree]

32. +1

[loyalsister]

38. That's awesome- thanks!

He has his grandfather's ears and his grandma's glint in the eyes. His broad smile really stands out as they have smaller mouths.
I have the book but haven't delved into it yet. It's interesting how both he and Bill Clinton grew up without their father.

[Odin2005]

35. There a a book about her out, she was a wonderful person!

[Tx4obama]

40. A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother, by Janny Scott

Amazon book info here: http://www.amazon.com/Singular-Woman-Untold-Barack-Obamas/dp/1594485593/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336941629&sr=8-1

[4 t 4]

44. How cool is that

Last edited Sun May 13, 2012, 07:39 PM - Edit history (1)

She had instilled in her son the importance of education, making him rise before the sun came up to do his homework. She would tell people that her son was gifted, “that he can do anything he ever wants in the world, even be president of the United States.”

What are the odds?? makes me start to rethink "things happen for a reason" and " what you put out is what you get" Too strange to be ignored but yet I know life doesn't work that way.

[DallasNE]

49. Obama Married A Woman

That in many ways is just like dear old mom.

Anyone else see that?

[TBF]

51. Actually I don't see that -

From what I've read they were very different women. I like them both very much but for different reasons. Stanley Ann's life was more exotic - living in different parts of the world and finally settling in Hawaii with the son she raised pretty much on her own. Michelle was a working class child, dug in and studied/worked hard in her pursuit of the American dream. The only similarity would be their dedication to their children, but I think you would find that in most moms honestly.

[BlueMTexpat]

50. Actually, there is an entirely different discussion for why the name "Stanley" was chosen

in a recent WaPo article and it wasn't because her father wanted a son. See

" ...She was a woman of many names. Born Stanley Ann Dunham, she assumed, as most people did, that her unusual first name was imposed by her father. An uncle tells a different story, attributing the choice to Madelyn Dunham, Stanley Ann’s mother, who as a small-town Kansas girl yearned to emulate Bette Davis, the sophisticated actress she saw on the big screen at the air-conditioned Augusta Theater. While Madelyn was pregnant, Davis was starring in a movie in which she played a female character named Stanley. (As it happened, no two people could have been less alike than Madelyn’s daughter and this film character, who was cruel, cunning and racist.) Stanley Ann became Stannie Ann in grade school, Stanley in high school and, finally, Ann in adulthood. Her last name changed as often, from Dunham to Obama to Soetoro to a final spelling of Sutoro. ..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-44th-president-was-his-mothers-son/2012/05/11/gIQA6NV1IU_story.html

Which version is correct? We may never know for sure. But, IMO, this version is a kinder one.

[allan01]

54. re: 5 Things You (likely) Never Knew About President Obama’s Mum:

@ cb hangman there are several varinats of the name allen. list as follows : allan, my spelling . allen ( femine variant) alan. also the obamas ar very good looking in my humble opinion. this whole thing stems from the fact that : 1 we (democrats intrruped yet again their supposed right of ownership of the white house, the rethugs think they own everything including the w/h.forget the rest of us) . 2 hes liberal, male and black. obamas mum should be congratulated for doing a fine job w her son . huzza huzza mrs obama .