Obama Foundation gives first look inside Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park
The Obama Foundation offered its first glimpse inside the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Wednesday, ahead of the $850 million facility's grand opening on June 19.
The center's 8-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.
"Our overarching theme that we're trying to achieve, both for our museum visitors and for those who partake in the parkland, for those who partake in our programs, is inspiring, empowering, connecting people to make change in their own communities, because that's what's important to build a participatory democracy," said Tina Tchen, executive vice president of programs for the Obama Foundation.
Obama Foundation leaders said the idea of community is all over the center, from interactive exhibits that encourage visitors to share their own stories to spaces designed to bring people together.
The Obama Presidential Center has been more than a decade in the making. The 19.3-acre campus includes a museum, public gathering spaces, a Chicago Public Library branch, athletic facilities, and open spaces designed to connect visitors with the community around them.
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 2nd 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, the fight for equal rights.
"You first view the multimedia presentation that is the power of words, and then you view the founding documents and all of the major events that have happened in the history of our country, that then leads to the story of Michelle and Barack Obama and their lived experiences," said John Roberson, the center's executive vice president.
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.
"The things that they found common in terms of their values that ultimately led to his political career and the campaign and ultimately election night," Roberson said.
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.
The museum covers five floors and is designed to be an ascending narrative. Level 3 focuses on the work of the Obama administration.
Across the Obamas' two terms in office: Barack signed the Affordable Care Act, pushed for climate change legislation, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, while Michelle launched programs like Let Girls Learn, Joining Forces, and Let's Move.
Tina Tchen, executive vice president of programs for the Obama Foundation, helped to shape future change makers. The museum is part of their curriculum.
"Passage of the [Affordable Care Act] as a case study as we're teaching a lot of our hope to action values," she said.
Tchen also served in the Obama administration as Michelle's chief of staff and as an assistant to the former president.
What kind of impact was she able to have on the Obama Presidential Center's creation?
"There was a lot of collaboration, and what was perhaps the hardest part of doing this was the editing process, right? Because there was so much to cover," Tchen said.
Level 4 features a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, and surprises hidden in the desk drawer, including a letter President George W. Bush wrote as Obama took over the White House.
It also includes examples of Michelle's iconic fashion from inauguration day to couture ball gowns and her viral "Target dress"
Level 5 is meant to inspire everyone to find their own way to create change. Visitors can design custom digital buttons with their goals.
"Then you get to take an express elevator up to the eighth floor, where our sky room is, that has panoramic, extraordinary views of the city that you will not find anywhere else in the city," Roberson said.
The center's main tower features the words from President Obama's speech on the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery, Alabama marches – stamped on the ceiling and sculpted with concrete into the outer walls – offering a look into the past and hope for future from the South Side of Chicago.
