June 21, 2011 First lady Michelle Obama, with former South African president Nelson Mandela, is photographed at Mandela’s home, in Houghton, South Africa. Obama and her family met with Mandela during a private visit at the former South African president's home. Obama, her daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, were viewing some of Mandela's personal papers at his foundation when, according to White House officials, he sent word that he wanted to meet them. It was Obama's first meeting with the prisoner-turned-president. Debbie Yazbek / “Just listening to her tell her story, seeing her being who she is, moved me,” says Jourdain-Earl. “She knows who she is and whose shoulders she’s standing on.” For other black women, much of Obama’s power derives from her simple familiarity.
FEBUARY 2012 ● VOICE Magazine
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