Barack Senior came to Hawaii in 1959 with a scholarship sponsored by Kenyan nationalists to educate gifted Kenyan students as the country fought for independence from British Colonial rule.
Obama graduated from the University of Hawaii in June 1962, earning his degree in three years with a straight A average and Phi Betta Kappa honors.
He left Hawaii on June 22 with a scholarship to attend Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Obama’s marriage to Ann Dunham did not last long. They separated in 1962 and Dunham filed for divorce in January 1964 and was back in Hawaii with son Barack Jr.
In 1965, Barack Sr. graduated from Harvard with a master’s degree in economics and returned to Africa where he served as an economist with the government of the now independent Kenya.
