Book: How Princeton Shaped Michelle Obama's Views On Black Community

Michelle Obama may be the pride of the South Side, but her undergraduate years at Princeton also helped shape her worldview.

A new biography, Michelle (Simon & Schuster), by Washington Post reporter Liza Mundy, delves into Obama's years at the elite university, in particular Obama's senior thesis, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.''

"The question of what upper-income blacks owe to the less fortunate was a major preoccupation," Mundy writes.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[harriettubman]

I read her entire dissertation. It was great. Lots of research.

[Cimms]

Wow. What a nice picture of her. She is going to be the most beutifull First Lady ever.

[ChicagoSuz]

I think it's awesome that, as a young college girl, she showed such a remarkable degree of self-awareness and was able to ask such honest, probing questions in an attempt to learn something new.

I think we learn something from everyone we meet. We can learn how to do something; we can also learn how NOT to do something. Once we see other ideas and points of view we can then choose what rings true for us and go with that. This is not unlike her husband's new defense team. The more information we have, the better, more informed, choices we can make.

She may not have realized it at the time, but all young people go through similar processes in creating their own identities. In this case it was Black/White. Sometimes, it's rich/poor. Jewish/Christian. Catholic/Protestant. Educated/not-so-educated. Able-bodied/Disabled. Liberal/Conservative. And, so on...

She, like Barack, is/was smart enough to seek out people who have been there before and learn from them what works and what doesn't. There's no reason to reinvent the wheel everyday.

[robXdion]

Nothing to see her folks. . . . . Just another article and unauthorized biography by nervous whites terrified Michelle Obama is going to be angry about white racism. So they have to preemptively dilute her blackness and separate her from the overwhelming poverty that defines much of AA culture with framing her as an elitist and beneficiary of the white majority. A succinct way to head off any racial grievances and continue making any discussion of racial discrimination another shame filled guilt-trip.

[Fongenie]

Agreed! You broke it down.

[Bella37]

typical black

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[LucieLee]

I am sure that other African American students who attend a predominately "white" school might even feel the same way Michelle Obama felt. This is normal and natural. I am very impressed with Mrs. Obama, in her ability to relate to people, all sorts of people. She will make a superb First Lady!!

[weatherwaxx]

All I can say is, I'm glad Michelle Obama is going to be our First Lady, rather than Cindy McCain.

[sparkal]

Who even cares what she wrote her thesis on 20 years ago. ...

[Pquilson]

Actually, I do care about what she wrote her thesis on 20 years ago. I would like to know what her beliefs and values are. Her views will give us more information as to what she would choose to do as first lady and how she will influence her husband.

[robXdion]

They've been married for 16 years. How she's doing so far?

Some of you want blacks to play make-believe like racism doesn't exist so you can feel better. Isn't that what you mean by her "beliefs and values"?

[bitterindependent]

20 years ago? most people develop totally different views after they leave college...really?...20 years ago?

[harriettubman]

There's nothing negative in her dissertation at all. I read it. In part of it she researched how black students felt in an all white Princeton environment. It was purely research questions with nothing negative against white people or anyone else.

[Kiabell04]

I like Michelle and am thoroughly proud of her educational endeavors. I'm glad she chose not to forget where she came from, and I'm sure..several blacks, like myself don't feel as if she has forgotten the black underclass.

[okayigive]

What a misleading article that says nothing about how Mrs. O.bama views the AA community. This article is just providing a forum for those to to espouse a myriad of opinions about who they think she is or who they believe she is based on a few questions in a thesis. Where are the views, and/or the hypothesis or conclusion on the thesis? The questions posed are no different than questions posed by others writing on the subject of race or class by sociologists, race relations experts etc, but it is something to write about why; because she is an AA women with intelligence and career, who was blessed to be able to attend Princeton and Harvard, and will be the First Lady. The question of not forgetting where one came from is a question asked and answered by many regardless of race, ethnicity, or stature in life you are able to obtain.

[southernsepia]

This kind of searching is not unique to the soon to be first lady.

All Black people who are educated or work in a predominantly white setting are at some point forced to examine their place in that world.

[inthecolour]

Yawn. This is lame. There is nothing wrong with her thesis.

Besides, her views on race have surely evolved two decades later after having been married to a man who is biracial and joining his multicultural family. As well, her brother is married to a white woman.

Stop with this weird paranoia focused on whether or not the Obama's are racist in some way. Ugh.

[Strywever]

Why does there have to be anything "wrong" with it? I found it interesting, that's all. Maybe that's all that was intended.

[bogues]

Oh come on, can we just give this dear woman a break. She is well educated and successful. I have seen nothing in her actions that say she thinks that makes her better than the rest of us. She has used her education and her success to be helpful. I think she is graceful and dignified and I also think she will be a remarkable First Lady. People who write these kinds of books, are looking for something that will sell. Sadly, trashing others seems to sell.

[PATina]

Maybe it's because I'm a college-educated Black woman... but I don't understand why anyone has a problem w/ her thesis. I started college in 1985... and I dealt w/ a lot of the same questions as a student at a predominately White university (although not Ivy League) as Michelle did. Maybe it is a "Black" thing... althought it's probably more accurate to say it's a "second class citizen" thing. I would like to know how some White women felt going to college when it wasn't the 'norm' for women to go to college (especially coed schools). It seems that they would have had some of the same questions, albeit gender oriented, as Michelle and I had about our race and communities. And while I think Chris Hitchens is a "genius"... those questions have nothing to do w/ advocating racial separation. They are more geared to understanding how to maintain one's racial identity and cultural connections while at the same time being introduced to other races and participating with other cultures.

[weatherwaxx]

I was the first girl to ever take electronics in a small rural high school, and was treated like I had two heads or a tail. That lasted four months. The fact that African-Americans can function at all in a society that is totally unaware of its own racism is mind-boggling. If you don't understand what I mean, visit an Indian reservation; take the Chicago El down to the South Side, where you may be the only white face on the train. The constant awareness of being 'other,' being different, is mind-blowing. Then imagine living that way all the time.

Michelle Obama is far too intelligent not to have been conscious of the great divide. How could she not recognize and examine it? Who with a grain of sense would not see the hypocrisy of how America really operates versus its high-flown claims of liberty and equality? I've been ashamed of America for the past 8 years.

I grew up in a white suburb; the only Black people I saw were Uhura and Scotty, on television. I had no idea of the walls that existed between races, because I had never encountered them. When I moved to Chicago, the nonverbal barrier was a real shock.

This election has changed the world. The more I read about both Barack and Michelle Obama, the more I pray for their safety. I think America has a chance to grow up, and it's past time.

[bascombe]

typical meme: black people could not form their own opinions. the have to be given to them by their superiors.

another condescending tome form some elitist trying to cash in on the Obama success. I'm sure it is "well researched".

give me a break.

Please!

[SpeakSense]

Mrs. Obama, like many well-educated professional women of color who came before her, will be criticized and evaluated for every move she makes. Her thesis written 23 years ago was shaped by the woman she was at that time. It is probably not a complete representative of who she is today, a career professional, a wife and a mother, I'm sure some of her views have changed, expanded and in some cases been completely reversed. That's called growing up. I would hate to be judged solely on the merits of a thesis I wrote twenty years ago; wouldn't you?

[weatherwaxx]

I'm sure some of her views are similar, and I don't see anything wrong with being able to criticize what's wrong with one's country. But yes -- look at her life experience since then.

Hey, I have an idea .... let's go look up the high school and college records of all these hotshot "journalists" and see who really has the credibility to cast stones.