Forever (more than just a) First Lady

By: Kenzie O’Day

PHOTO BY DFID/FLICKR

“I am from the south side of Chicago. That tells you as much about me as you need to know.”

“I am from the south side of Chicago. That tells you as much about me as you need to know.” Michelle Obama came from working class roots. The former first lady earned two Ivy League degrees through hard work; a value instilled in her by her working-class family. Her legacy as First Lady comes from the fact that she was so open about her roots, something that everyone can share. Everyone came from somewhere, and by valuing her story, she made it acceptable for those around her to value theirs.

As the wife of a former President, Michelle Obama is often associated with politics. A fair assumption, considering she worked with her husband during his campaign for the 2008 Presidential election, and has supported the political campaigns of Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden. However, Michelle Obama is not a politician, and is known for saying she “doesn’t like politics.” Thus, her legacy is not a political one. But she made a tremendous impact on the lives of many with her campaigns during her husband’s Presidential terms: influencing the nation via her Let’s Move campaign, Reach Higher, Let Girls Learn, and Join Forces. The United States benefited greatly from the work she put into these initiatives, but the international community also benefited, and continues to benefit, from exposure to her character. She faced criticism with poise, stating in a commencement speech at Tuskegee University that when attacked with racist remarks while campaigning for her husband, she had to learn to be true to her values, and trust that things would work themselves out. When faced with criticism, or microaggressions that are day-to-day experiences for so many people of colour, Obama preaches her husband’s iconic “when they go low, I go high” mantra. She advises a calm, measured reaction in response to prejudice, and advises students to focus on their education. The generation of young men and women who grew up with Michelle Obama as First Lady, have normalized the fact that a black man can be President and a black woman First Lady, in the face of racism and character attacks. Obama’s legacy encompasses that as well.

As First Lady, Michelle Obama’s chief focus was on children. She’s never been shy in stating that her job, first and foremost, is to be a mother to her two daughters, exemplified by the moniker “mom-in-chief” which she bestowed upon herself at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She expanded on that idea with her 2010 Let’s Move campaign, which focused on ending childhood obesity within the next generation. To tackle this, Obama’s campaign emphasized the importance of exercise and made one of the largest reforms to school lunch programs in over 15 years: the quality of food served improved and she brought 5,946 salad bars to schools across America through the Salad Bars to School initiative. Salad Bars to Schools still runs today, and thus Michelle Obama’s legacy as a champion of nutritious eating continues.

With her 2014 Reach Higher campaign, the former FLOTUS shifted focus to children graduating high school, encouraging them to continue their education at a post-secondary institution. Reach Higher aimed to support guidance counselors across America and provide students with greater understanding of college opportunities and financial aid. She has stated several times that she deeply values education, and in that vein launched the Let Girls Learn initiative in 2015. Let Girls Learn is an organization dedicated to advancing girls education internationally, particularly in underdeveloped countries. In partnership with several international governments and with coordinated effort of six American government agencies, Let Girls Learn strives not only to create opportunities for girls to go to school, but to change mindsets on girl education and value on local levels. The organization works on preventing gender-based violence, building dormitories so that young women can remain in secondary school and improving school bathrooms At the time of launch, $1 billion USD had been dedicated to the project by the Obama Administration, and another $100 million was requested in the President’s 2017 budget.

Her commitment to the values of health, education, respect, and personal story, continue to inspire. In 2017, a group of authors came together to publish The Meaning of Michelle: 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own. This alone solidifies her legacy as an inspiration. Upon her departure from the White House in 2016, young girls who had grown up seeing her as First Lady said she “stands for kindness,” “makes me feel beautiful,” “[she] tries to make young girls feel like more than just girls… like people who actually have opinions that matter and who can fight for what we believe in.” Her legacy extends not only to women in America, but across the world. Over 33,000 people attempted to purchase tickets for the Paris leg of her Becoming book tour in 2018, and she is seen as a role model to many not just for her campaigns as First Lady, but because “she has a poise and grace that makes her inspiring to young women [specifically] of colour. She motivates [them] to take on the world, and shows [they] can do it despite racism.”

This is the legacy she has left behind. A legacy of young women and men who believe in themselves more now than they did in 2008, because they have seen someone who looks like them, who grew up like them, who faced their same challenges, hold one of the most respected positions in American government. Michelle Obama’s legacy is one of hope and the strength of unification, the strength of bringing together our individual stories to build something greater than ourselves.