Barack Obama’s path to the White House seemed improbable. Born in Hawaii to an American mother and Kenyan father, he later moved to Indonesia with his mother and stepfather, and then back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. After high school he attended Occidental College for two years before transferring to Columbia University, earning a political science degree in 1983.

Two years later, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer. He attended Harvard Law School and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago and worked as a civil rights lawyer. In 1996, he won a seat in the Illinois Senate. Although a 2000 bid for the U.S. House of Representatives was unsuccessful, four years later, Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Obama was propelled into the national spotlight when, as a Senate candidate, he gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Four years later, he made history as the nation’s first African-American president. During his first term in office, he was tasked with the response to the 2008 financial crisis. In 2010, his major health care initiative was signed into law. He also gave the order that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, architect of the 9/11 attacks. In 2012, he and Vice President Joe Biden won re-election to a second term with 51 percent of the vote. In 2015, he normalized relations with Cuba after 60 years, and in 2016 he became the first sitting president to visit the country since 1928.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, campaigned unsuccessfully for Democrat Hillary Clinton to succeed them in the White House in 2016. They continued living in the nation’s capital post presidency while their youngest daughter attended high school.