After more than a decade in the making, the Obama Presidential Center and Library is opening in Chicago in Jackson Park. Thursday there is a grand opening ceremony for invited guests only, before the center officially opens to the public on Friday. Tickets for the museum are on sale now.
Barack Obama’s path from Hyde Park state senator to two-term president moved through a series of defining moments that political insiders say are unlikely to be repeated.
The movement that began on Chicago’s South Side will now be permanently memorialized there. But Lynn Sweet, former Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times, said what Obama built is not something that can simply be studied and reproduced.
“He was able to create this movement, this ‘Yes We Can’ movement back in 2008 that was unrivaled in its time and has never been matched or duplicated since,” she said.
CBS Chicago reporter Chris Tye takes a look back at the key turning points in Barack Obama’s political career, from his early days as a state senator representing Hyde Park to two terms in the White House.
After Nesbitt spoke, John Legend sat at the Yamaha grand piano and sang the 1973 soul anthem “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” originally sung by Donny Hathaway.
Legend also talked about first meeting Barack Obama when he was contemplating running for president.
Afterward, Legend was joined by Common and the United Voices Chicago choir for the 2014 Common and Legend song “Glory.”
“Glory” was the theme song to the 2014 film Selma,” and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015.
Businessman and Obama Foundation board chairman Marty Nesbitt took the podium in a tan suit — referencing the subject of a controversy involving President Obama and his choice of attire during a news conference about foreign policy and military action in 2014.
Nesbitt touted his history with the South Side of Chicago, having met his wife Anita at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House on the University of Chicago campus and married her in Rockefeller Chapel on campus. He said all his children were born at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
“To stand on the South Side and see the Obama Presidential Center rise here today, where generations of young people will come to learn, lead and dream, is both emotional and historic,” Nesbitt said.
Young musicians from the organization Guitars Over Guns have been working with Eddie Vedder, the voice of Pearl Jam, to compose an original song for the opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center.
Vedder and the young musicians performed the song, “Better Believe,” before the crowd of dignitaries.
Such notables as Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien were on hand for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago Thursday morning.
Christina Aguilera, The Roots, Bono, The Edge, Stevie Wonder and Tems are also among the performers at today’s ceremony.
Below is a roundup of some of the sightings at the event.
Back onstage outside the Obama Presidential Center, Christina Aguilera was next up, singing a powerful rendition of “What a Wonderful World,” a song first made famous by Louis Armstrong in 1967.
Like a news anchor tossing to a reporter in the field, Jarrett tossed to actress Marsai Martin, who served as correspondent for the Obama Presidential Center opening ceremony watch party on the Midway Plaisance.
Martin met two women who traveled all the way from Africa for the event.
“I was studying journalism at Harvard, and what happened is that Barack Obama became a candidate, and I called my family in Africa and I said, ‘OK, you know what, I think I know who the next president’s going to be,” said one of the women, Claudia, who said she went on to be inspired to create the first American school in the country.
Martin went on to speak with several others at the watch party, including a group of enthusiastic Chicagoans.
At the ceremony for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Obama Foundation chief executive officer Valerie Jarrett was the first to speak after the invocation and the national anthem.
“This is a campus for everybody, whether you live down the street or on the other side of the world, and we hope you are going to come back again and again,” said Jarrett.
Jarrett noted that she met Barack and Michelle Obama 35 years ago, when they were engaged to be married. A lot has changed since then, of course, but not everything.
“What hasn’t changed is Barack and Michelle’s devotion to family and friends, their values; some of the values we teach our young leaders — integrity, courage, imagination, resilience, and yes, empathy — and their unmistakable belief, unshakable belief, that to whom much is given, much is expected,” said Jarrett.
Jarrett also honored the people who have stood by the Obamas “through all the ups and downs.”
“People who refuse to accept the status quo, who wanted to be part of something bigger and more important than themselves, and who came together to work towards a common goal,” she said.
Following a formal presentation of colors by the Illinois Color Guard, Jennifer Hudson sang a rousing rendition of the national anthem accompanied only by a piano.
She also sang “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from “The Man of La Mancha,” an anthem that she also famously sang in 2009 in a tribute to Muhammad Ali at the NAACP Image Awards.
The ceremony for the opening of an invocation led by Pastor Joel Hunter of Community Benefit Action Church in Florida, and Joshua DuBois, director of faith based and neighborhood partnerships under President Obama.
“We come to give thanks for the man whose name this center bears, a son of many places who answered your call to serve, who stood where no Black American had stood before, and who reminded a weary nation that hope is not a platitude, but a call to action,” said Hunter.
“For those who arrive here weary and heavy laden, let this be a place where peace quiets their souls,” said DuBois.
Students at Woodlawn Community School recently wrote letters to President Barack and Michelle Obama as the Obama Presidential Center prepared to open in their neighborhood.
Students say they are excited about what it could mean for their community. But they also had a message of their own, asking the former president and first lady to visit.
Woodlawn community advocates and organizers shared their South Side pride and excitement with Dorthy Tucker.
“This is phenomenal, it’s bringing hope and dreams especially to our youth community right here,” a volunteer told CBS News Chicago.
A volunteer said she has been involved since before Obama was a senator.
“Anything that I can be a part of and volunteer with him, I have been a part of,” she said.
Tourists will, no doubt, flock to the Obama Presidential Center, but will they venture out and visit Woodlawn, Hyde Park and South Shore as well?
Community groups, residents and business owners are counting on the answer being yes. In addition, they’re hoping for increased investment in neighborhoods that have long been overlooked.
Jim Williams worked as press secretary for Mayor Richard M. Daley for five years back in the 1990s, and Williams knew Michelle Obama when she was Michelle Robinson — engaged to future President Barack Obama before they married in 1992.
“She was salt-of-the-earth, just as nice as could be, and very, very smart. She was recruited to the Department of Economic Development and Planning by Valerie Jarrett, who has remained a very close friend of the Obamas; was the only person to serve eight years in a senior role in the Obama administration,” Williams said. “And so it’s remarkable to see somebody you shared an office with in this position.”
Meanwhile, as a young reporter in Chicago, Dana Kozlov used to head down to Springfield and chase then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama around the Illinois State Capitol, and interview him about the issues of the day.
“After I met him, I found him to be very accessible, and very direct when he answered questions — which, you know, you don’t always get from all elected officials, they’re not always very direct, and then followed his rise from the state Senate to the U.S. Senate,” said Kozlov. “And looking back, it is remarkable to be sitting here almost 30 years later, and you know, we’re at the dedication of the center.”
Williams remembered 30 years ago, he was talking with Jarrett, and they both said, “Wouldn’t it be something one day if Barack Obama could be mayor of Chicago?”
Mr. Obama, of course, ended up moving up a few steps.
The Obama Foundation formed a partnership with After School Matters — a 35-year-old organization providing opportunities to Chicago teenagers. After School Matters is one of the largest providers of after-school and summer programs for teenagers in the nation.
The center will be home for a number of After School Matters activities. Some will be held at Home Court, a 60,000-square-foot athletic center on campus. A songwriting class will also be held at the brand-new media center at the Obama Center.
All the summer programs here are already full, but more programs will be added at the center during the school year, and there are still other opportunities around the city. For more information, visit afterschoolmatters.org.
When you walk into the Forum building at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, you are immediately welcomed by a mural of photos lining the wall.
The work is not only a salute to the South Side, but a way to honor the work of a local artist who got his start with Ebony Magazine.
Earlier this month, the Obama Foundation offered its first glimpse inside the Obama Presidential Center.
The center’s eight-story museum tower features American milestones like the Declaration of Independence, the end of slavery, and the fight for equal rights, along with highlights from Barack and Michelle Obama’s time in the White House.
When visitors enter the museum tower, they can hear former President Barack Obama’s familiar voice before they see him.
Slowly rising from the ground to the museum’s second-floor entrance, Obama’s message fills the room, but the first exhibits surrounding you are from American milestones that happened before his time in office – the Declaration of Independence, the end of slavery, and the fight for equal rights.
The center includes a massive digital wall sitting behind the level 2 displays. Turn a corner, and you start to get a view of Barack and Michelle growing up. This is a museum for both the former president and first lady, who was born on the South Side. The couple met when she was assigned to be his mentor at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin LLP in 1989.
At the center, visitors also find more than 400 buttons celebrating the movement ignited by the 2008 presidential campaign, along with posters, Obama custom sneakers, and even swimsuits created by supporters.
On the Midway Plaisance near Dorchester Avenue, a jubilant celebration with old-school jams was well under way at 10 a.m. ahead of the Obama Presidential Center opening ceremony watch party. For many, this was about more than a building. It was about seeing a community that shaped a president take its place on the world stage.
Lana McKinney just moved from Chicago to Kansas City, and now lives in Hyde Park. She was one of the first people to get in line for the watch party at 6 a.m.
“I think the best part about this is the kids see democracy in action, civic engagement, and just to celebrate presidents, right?” McKinney said.
Meanwhile, seats were also filled for the opening ceremony at the Obama Presidential Center. In attendance were some of the people who have been with the Obama family since before they entered politics, and worked with him on the campaign.
Some residents of the community who live right across the street were also among the VIPs.
“I moved over here when this was just dust, and I moved over here two years ago when there were just steel cages, and this was nothing here, and to see what has come within two years now, I love it,” said Jessica Winesberry. “I just love it all.”
“I’m thrilled to be here. I’m excited. I was here before this, anything on this campus was here other than the football field,” said Lazarus Daniels. “Like I said, I’m a proud graduate of Hyde Park High School, so just to see the change in the community is super dope.”
Some were so emotional that they could barely get the words out about how excited they were.
At 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue around 9:30 a.m., a motorcade with flashing lights and trailed by Illinois State Police came through headed for the Obama Presidential Center. It was not known what dignitaries were in the motorcade.
Meanwhile on the Midway Plaisance, the crowd was beginning to fill in for the watch party, and everyone was in a good mood. Tens of thousands were expected to attend, and will find food, local vendors, community organizers, live entertainment, and a DJ — who was already scratching beats as of 9:30 a.m.
The energy in the air could be felt as soon as the gates opened. Everyone was excited, and some were even in tears as they thought of the momentous nature of the event.
The Secret Service, Chicago police, and other agencies have an extensive perimeter around the watch party. Officials encouraged anyone attending to walk if possible, or use the Chicago Transit Authority or Metra, because there was absolutely no parking allowed anywhere nearby.
The grand opening ceremony is for invited guests only, but the Obama Foundation wanted to make sure the public was still included so they’re hosting a free watch party on the Midway Plaisance.
The Midway is a long, narrow park that connects Jackson Park – where the Obama Center sits – and Washington Park. The three parks were, in the late 19th century, part of a larger South Park project helmed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York’s Central Park..
In the original plans, the east and west ends of South Park (now Jackson and Washington parks, respectively) were meant to be connected to Lake Michigan via long canal that would allow boaters to get from the lake to the lagoons in what is now Washington Park. That canal never got built before the project ran out of money — it became Midway Plaisance.
Good thing, too —- 22 years later, the Midway hosted many of the most famous attractions from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, including the world’s first Ferris wheel.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, emphasized how meaningful the Obama presidency and the opening of the Obama Presidential Center were to him.
“It means a lot to me, because I, having grown up in the Civil Rights movement, and was a protégé of Jesse Jackson, and saw Shirley Chisholm run for president — I was her youth director when I was just 17 years old,” said Sharpton. “And to not only live to see a president that was of African descent, and a Black first lady from the South Side become that.”
Sharpton said President Obama could have just built a monument to himself and left it there.
“But he didn’t,” said Sharpton. “He came back to the community that nurtured him, the community his wife was from, and built this edifice that will be an economic blessing to the community, but a sign of hope to the world.”
The gates for the watch party on the Midway Plaisance opened at 9 a.m. The event was free to attend, but tickets were required and all were sold out.
People were seen gathering on the Midway wearing hats and sunglasses and carrying folding chairs.
The mile-long Midway Plaisance connects Jackson Park with Washington Park. For much of its length, it also separates the University of Chicago’s Main Quad along 59th Street from other campus buildings such as the Law School and the Burton-Judson dormitory on 60th Street.
People began arriving in Jackson Park and seats began filling up ahead of the grand opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center.
Guests checked in at the Obama Center, received guest credentials, and then walked along Stony Island Avenue and 63rd Street to go through security again.
But all the invited guests were excited. Alongside various dignitaries and politicians were local VIPs.
“There’s a woman that I spoke to who lives right across the street. She has seen this from the beginning,” said CBS News Chicago’s Dorothy Tucker. “She got an invitation.”
Travel editor Peter Greenberg joined CBS News Chicago to weigh in on the economic impacts of presidential centers.
“We really don’t appreciate how incredible these libraries are, and by the way, not every president gets one. I’ve been lucky enough to get to the ones — Eisenhower’s in Abilene, Kansas, and George W. Bush… in Texas,” Greenberg siad. “We have of course Reagan and Nixon in California, FDR in New York. But the Obama one’s going to be the biggest and the best of all, considering what they’ve done in terms of their design and what they hope to do with it.”
It has been a long, hard road to develop the Obama Presidential Center, and all the architects who worked on the project said it was an honor to be chosen.
The center’s landscape architect, Paul Seck, said besides the playground and community gardens, there is also a vegetable garden for the community.
“I think the idea here, and this was very important to Mrs. Obama, was not only to provide nutritious food, but also to educate folks on how that’s done,” Seck said. “And so we’ve worked with the Chicago Botanic Garden, and it will be something that’s open during normal hours to the public so they can see what’s going on here. But it will also facilitate other educational programs for kids and adults.”
Seck said above all, the Obama Presidential Center grounds are a space for everybody. He added that accessibility was also critical to the design and programming.
Gates for the free watch party on the Midway Plaisance were set to open around 9 a.m. Tens of thousands of people were expected to view the ceremonies on a Jumbotron. A live DJ was set to be part of the festivities on the Midway.
The Jumbotron was set up around Dorchester Avenue on the Midway.
On Wednesday night ahead of the festivities, the Obamas took the stage at the Salt Shed on Elston Avenue.
“I don’t want to hear people come up to me and say, ‘We miss you.’ What I need is for us to believe that we can continue that feeling, that story, and pass it on, and teach it to the next generation, and lift them up, and make sure that they take up that baton, and run that race the same way that we did,” former President Obama said at the Salt Shed Wednesday night.
As crowds began descending on the area around the Obama Presidential Center, some of the A-list musical artists got onstage for soundchecks.
Jennifer Hudson sang a rendition of “The Impossible Dream” from “The Man of La Mancha” during a soundcheck around 8:30 a.m. Stevie Wonder was also onstage earlier.
A show rundown indicated that Bruce Springsteen would introduce Stevie Wonder once the show goes live.
This opening is a celebration of a presidency, a legacy and years of work by the Obama Foundation and they’ve planned a star-studded party.
The opening ceremony will include musical performers from some names you just might recognize: Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, the Roots and more.
Bono and The Edge from U2 and Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems will be there too.
Presidential libraries are shaped by the legacy of the presidents they honor, but historians and authors say the museums attached to these archives often present a selective version of history. While the archival records are managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, the museum exhibits are funded by private donors, who may prefer to highlight positive moments and downplay controversies.
Historian Douglas Brinkley, who has visited all post-Franklin D. Roosevelt libraries, noted that this dynamic can influence how history is presented. For example, the Herbert Hoover library’s website emphasizes that some New Deal policies were first proposed by Hoover, while the Richard Nixon library in California was the focus of disputes over how much attention should be given to the Watergate scandal.
Max Boot, author of a 2024 biography of Ronald Reagan, said the Reagan archives are managed professionally by federal employees, but the museum itself focuses on achievements and minimizes failures. Boot also noted that critical books about Reagan are not sold in the library bookstore.
Historian Ted Widmer, a former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, said there has been some progress toward transparency. He pointed to the Lyndon B. Johnson library in Austin, Texas, which has addressed Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War and posted recordings related to his controversial 1948 Senate campaign. Widmer said it remains uncertain if future libraries will continue this trend, but he believes it is important for democracy to study history as it happened, not just a sanitized version.
President of the White House Historical Association, Stewart McLaurin, joined Dana Kozlov on CBS News Chicago to share his first impressions of the Obama Presidential Center.
“Walking up to it today, it’s just majestic, the setting, the environment, the location, the things that will draw the community to this place,” McLaurin said. “The community activities and the setting are so unique here in this special place.”
The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center and Museum is just a few hours away.
The Jackson Park campus will open to the public tomorrow, but today hundreds of celebrities, politicians and dignitaries will gather for a ceremony and dedication celebrating the achievement.
The Obama Presidential Center has been more than a decade in the making. Here’s how we got here.
Street closures are underway near the Obama Presidential Center as thousands are expected to gather for the opening ceremony.
Roads impacted by closures include areas near East 59th Street, East Midway Plaisance, and East 60th Street, East 61st Street and East 62nd Street.
To get to the ceremony, you can take the following CTA buses:
CTA buses to the center:
Dana Kozlov reports live as final preparations are underway at the Obama Presidential Center ahead of Thursday’s opening ceremony.
In just a few hours, thousands are expected to gather for the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening ceremony. Last-minute preparations are underway, and Darius Johnson and Jackie Kostek are reporting live from near the center.
