The new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago opened its doors on Friday, with Barack and Michelle Obama making a surprise appearance to personally greet the first 100 visitors.
Joined by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, the Obamas then delighted 25 schoolchildren at the center’s Chicago Public Library branch by reading Maurice Sendak’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are. A moment of levity arose when, after Barack read the line about being “king of all the wild things,” Michelle interjected, “Although there were no kings,” drawing applause.
Later, awestruck guests had the opportunity to shake hands with the Obamas. This memorable interaction took place against the backdrop of a vibrant, 38-foot-tall painting.
The artwork, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s 1914 poem about Chicago, “stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders,” depicts a sprawling map of the city stretching to the ceiling.
“It was perfect. It was great,” said 18-year-old Houefa Agassounon from Chicago after the surprise visit from the Obamas. “I was literally crying. I asked for a hug and everything.”
She wrote a letter to the Obama Foundation last year, asking if she could be there when it opened. She said meeting the Obamas was a bonus.
“This is just the greatest thing of my 18 years of life,” she said.
The Juneteenth opening followed a star-studded dedication ceremony where the Obamas gave rousing speeches to an audience including three former presidents, their former first ladies, and a host of politicians, A-list celebrities, musicians, athletes and others. Thousands more joined the livestream from a nearby park.
A weekend of events is planned for the sprawling campus on Chicago’s South Side near where the Obamas lived and began his political career. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.
Tickets for the general public are sold out through the end of November. But those lucky enough to score them for the first day got the unexpected thrill of meeting the Obamas themselves.
The campus includes a towering museum that covers the political and personal realms of the nation’s first Black president and first lady, while public spaces include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground and athletic center, basketball courts and a picnic area with grills.
The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot tall concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”
