Janny Scott, 'A Singular Woman': Barack Obama's Mother, The Woman We Know Nothing About (VIDEO)

We know a lot about Barack Obama's father. Obama wrote a memoir about him, "Dreams from My Father." But the woman who gave birth to him, the white woman from Kansas we know almost nothing about.

Janny Scott, author of "A Singular Woman" appeared on Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report to talk about her.

Scott argues that she has been oversimplified and describes her as "thoroughly unconventional." At 17, she went abroad and conceived a child with an African man during a time when 17 states had laws against inter-racial marriage. When she fell in love with an Indonesian man, she took her six-year-old son with her and lived there during a time of great political crisis. Scott called her, "Very open emotionally and intellectually," and said, "The only label she ever embraced was anthropologist."

Colbert tries to argue that she was a terrible mother because she left Barack with her parents during high school so that she could pursue graduate work in Indonesia. The author wants people to read the book and judge for themselves.

Watch the interview here:

The Colbert Report
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Comments

[Howard53545]

07:10 AM on 06/16/2011

She was CIA

[c-tom]

04:00 PM on 06/15/2011

I know a lot more about her than I do about Palin's mom. Who's the better mom one who lives in Hawaii and Indonesia or one who chooses Idaho?

[noudidnt]

09:43 AM on 06/16/2011

bwah ha ah ha ha ha

[leahpappas12345]

03:58 PM on 06/15/2011

wow i never even knew that was our president's mother!!! but she is a pretty woman and barack looks so young in that pic with her. but i do wonder y barrack obama never mentions his own mother!!!

[Sunflo]

05:44 PM on 06/15/2011

Try another one.

[DJE12857]

06:42 PM on 06/15/2011

President Obama oftens speaks of his mother with high praise and love. He gives a great deal of credit to her for his sense of empathy and the fact that she put such importance on education. He has said he credits her for where he is today.

[foreverstudy]

03:45 PM on 06/15/2011

Colbert seems to be saying it's ok for men to leave their kids behind. A major problem in the U S today; men fogetting that they are fathers; they are absent in their children's lives. Colbert seems ok with that. Obamas mother, fromwhat I understand from this interview, was WITH Obama for "most of" his 1st 18 years of life and yet Colbert seems to want to hang her on a cross.

[DJE12857]

06:36 PM on 06/15/2011

Colbert's entire show is a parody of Fear News and the far right. He is quite the lib. He meant no such thing.

[Darthwave]

06:43 PM on 06/15/2011

You do realize Colbert is a parody of ORiley.

[one1byke]

12:49 PM on 06/15/2011

Can someone ELSE make one look like a "Paranoid Nut?"
I don' think so, Fox Blogger.

[OhManOhMan]

12:17 PM on 06/15/2011

PEOPLE!!! get a grip will ya?

Obama's mother didn't break the law when she fell in love with a male who happens to be opposite of skin color!!!

Hell, just about majority of powerful white males in higher elected officials had s e x and children with females of opposite skin color over thousand of years!!!!

Presidents of USA had children outside of their marriage and they got away. JFK have numerous of adultery affairs behind his wife's back. This goes on and on on on

[trekbette]

01:20 AM on 06/17/2011

You are actually the first one to mention the inter-racial aspect to the story.

I think it is odd that the media, with particular the right-wing media spends so much time and energy on the fact that President Obama is a black man, when he is actually bi-racial. He is as white as he is black.

As long as a child is loved, cherished and taught to be a functional member of society, what does it matter what race, nationality or sexual orientation the parents are?