The “Godmother of American civil rights,” Dorothy Height, once marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
Dorothy died in 2010 when she was 98 years old. She was in her nineties and still campaigned.
The Sandy Hook school shooting
Adam Lanza shot and killed six teachers and twenty children, ages six to seven, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
In a speech after the attack, an emotional Obama said, “I can only hope it helps for you to know that you’re not alone in your grief.”
“We have hugged our kids and we have cried with you.”
Ceremony of Inauguration
When Barack Obama gave his farewell speech as US president in Chicago on Tuesday night, he became agitated.
He started crying when his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia were mentioned.
He remarked, “I’m most proud to be your dad out of everything I’ve done in my life.”
His grandmother’s passing
On November 3, 2008, the final day of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died of cancer.
In a speech at the University of North Carolina, he brought her up.
He told crowds that her loss was “hard to talk about” after declaring, “She has gone home.”
The Daniel Inouye funeral
From 1963 to 2012, Daniel Inouye served as a senator from Hawaii for 49 years.
Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was influenced by the Asian/American politician after Inouye’s death.
Obama remarked in 2012, “I think it hinted to me what might be possible in my own life, the way he commanded the respect of an entire nation.”
New g*n laws were introduced in the United States.
As he introduced new g*n laws in January 2016, Barack Obama spoke about the Sandy Hook massacre victims: “I get angry every time I think about those kids.”
He told the BBC in 2015 that the biggest disappointment of his presidency was that the US had not passed “common sense g*n laws.”
The moment of Aretha Franklin
It doesn’t get much bigger than Aretha Franklin, the queen of souls, when it comes to surprise guests.
In 2015, Aretha performed (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman in Washington while Barack and Michelle Obama were guests at a tribute to songwriter Carole King.
The viral video, which was broadcast by CBS, received millions of views on YouTube.