Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. The first African American to be elected President of the United States, Obama was the junior Senator from Illinois since 2005. His term of office as the 44th U.S President began on January 20, 2009. Barack Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.