Michelle Obama

     From the mouths and pens of the founding fathers, America is built on the principle and core belief that all men are created equal. This American value has not always been demonstrated in the course of this country's history and many times has seemed a struggle to obtain what seems all to simple. Recently this idea has reached the forefront of many discussions, though many have tried to be avoided as it was with the discussions of slavery in 1790, with the first African American couple to reside in the White House with the authority and title of the President and First Lady. Michelle Obama more prominently, being the descendant of slaves, has caused this revisit, and through this has helped move America to reassess and accept the principle in which the country was built.
     America has been referred to as the Great Melting Pot, in which people of all races and cultures have come together in the idea of obtaining the American dream. If there was a picture or an artwork that when looked at you immediately connected its representation, then Michelle Obama would be the complete image of America. At Whitney M. Young Magnet School, Obama displayed her very social and diverse character amongst students of all colors, race, and cultural backgrounds, being recalled as being able to “float gracefully” between social groups in the school.”(Mundy 55) Her overall ability to relate to all students who went to her school not only positioned her strategically for her future but also set her up for her most destined position, being the First Lady of the United States of America. She was and is, also and most importantly, a voice when she chose to speak, an odd trait among women but presently is the overall admiration of a strong woman. Marian Robinson, Michelle's mother, made note that, “Michelle's always been very vocal about anything . . . If it's not right, she's going to say so,” (Mundy 56) a characteristic that has followed her to the White House adding to America a stronger sense of equality by on a public and national setting endorsing and promoting that women are a voice equal to men; fulfilling the principle that all men are created equal.
     It is said that behind every great man there is a strong woman; with Barack Obama, Michelle Obama is the aid and fire as well as the strength behind Obama as it was designed but at it's peak of functionality. Mundy analyzes in her biography of Michelle, that “If Michelle was intense and driven, Barack soon emerged as more intense and more driven, at least when it came to making a mark in politics.” (Mundy 123) An intensity that has benefited America not only in the rigorous production since the inauguration of Obama, but most importantly the care of the American people, primarily the middle and lower classes, gradually dispersing the inequality of the more wealthier classes versus the lower classes. Michelle Obama's advocacy, that has followed her since her days at Princeton, where she involved herself in the Third World Center that supported minority kids and Harvard, where she participated in advocating the hiring of professors of minorities, for those less fortunate has been clearly visible in the days in office of the Obama administration with the proposal of a public option, and her visits to homeless shelters and soup kitchens in her first days of being the First Lady. This focus on those struggling has initiated a national discussion and look at how we treat those people who are less fortunate, sometimes showing a darker side of our democracy. Such as on a news report on MSNBC where a business man was seen throwing money at a man who could not walk at a healthcare protest. This concern for the less fortunate is many times misinterpreted for a communistic impulse on democracy.
     The lasting legacy of Michelle Obama will probably be the example of what an African American woman is capable of and the deterioration of the 'Sista Gurl' stereotype that has clung to black women. She has also brought to the eye nationally, that black women are pretty and more importantly bringing a sense of pride to many African American women and more so African American young girls who are constantly faced everyday with the white skin and long hair as a sense of beauty. Bringing black women finally, as somewhat of the last people to acquire equality in the American culture. Presently she is also the representation of fashion as Mrs. Kennedy in her day and time was, and the representation of discipline as Barbara Bush was. Consequently as with every First Lady she is the female role model impacting America not only on its fashion but on American women and young girls and their conduct. Michelle Obama again is the discussion and the positive progress of America's long racial history, as Mundy perfectly puts it, “. . . her very presence at Obama's side as the descendant of slaves . . . [has raised] questions about how far we have come in our tolerance and how far we have to go . . . [her] journey will have a more lasting impact on our dreams of equality, our hopes and our audacity . . .” (Mundy 198)
     Michelle Obama, the descendant of slaves, has caused the revisit of race and has moved America not only to reassess but to accept the principle on which the country was built. The first time you look upon a picture your eyes divert to a certain point and usually your memory remembers this first impression, an impression that will stick and will be inevitably hard to remove. Michelle Obama is the image of America in its purest form that when looked at resembles the principles of sovereignty, freedom, but most importantly equality by her skin tone and her gender that reside in the highest form of authority in the United States. She is the success of the struggles of men and women, and leaders and politicians, and slaves who have gone before her and carved out the path to the fulfillment of the words that were written in the Declaration of Independence, 'that all men are created equal.'