Madelyn Dunham
Encyclopedia
Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham ( ; October 26, 1922 – November 2, 2008) was the American maternal grandmother of Barack Obama
, the 44th and current President of the United States of America. She and her husband Stanley Armour Dunham
raised Obama from age ten in their Honolulu, Hawaii
apartment, where on November 2, 2008, she died two days before her grandson was elected President.
, the eldest of four children of Rolla Charles "R.C." Payne (August 23, 1892 – October 15, 1968) and Leona Belle (McCurry) Payne (May 7, 1897 – March 22, 1968). In Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father
, he describes them as "stern Methodist parents who did not believe in drinking
, playing cards
or dancing
." She moved with her parents to Augusta, Kansas
at the age of three. Madelyn was an honor roll student and one of the best students at Augusta High School, where she graduated in 1940. Despite her strict upbringing, she liked to go to Wichita, Kansas
to see big band concerts
. While in Wichita, she met Stanley Dunham
from El Dorado, Kansas
, and the two married on May 5, 1940, the night of Madelyn's senior prom
.
. Madelyn worked the night shift on a Boeing
B-29 assembly line in Wichita
. Her brother Charlie Payne
was part of the 89th Infantry Division, which liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald, a fact Barack Obama has referred to in speeches. Madelyn gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Stanley Ann
, who was later known as Ann, at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita on November 29, 1942.
, Ponca City, Oklahoma
, Vernon, Texas
, El Dorado, Kansas
, Seattle, Washington
and finally settled in Mercer Island, Washington
, where Ann graduated from Mercer Island High School
. In El Dorado, Kansas
, Stanley had managed a furniture store while Madelyn worked in restaurant
s. In Seattle, Stanley worked in a bigger furniture store (Standard-Grunbaum Furniture) while Madelyn eventually became vice-president of a local bank. Mercer Island was then "a rural, idyllic place," quiet, politically conservative and all white. Madelyn and Stanley attended Sunday services at the East Shore Unitarian Church in nearby Bellevue
. While in Washington Madelyn attended the University of Washington
although she never completed a degree.
in 1960 and was promoted to be one of the first female bank vice president
s in 1970. In 1970s Honolulu, both women and the minority white population were routinely the target of discrimination. Ann attended the University of Hawaii
, and while attending a Russian language
class, she met Barack Obama, Sr.
, a graduate student from Kenya
. Stanley and Madelyn were unhappy about Ann's marriage to Obama, Sr., particularly after receiving a long, angry letter from his father who "didn't want the Obama blood sullied by a white woman." The Dunhams adapted, however, as Madelyn was quoted as saying, "I am a little dubious of the things that people from foreign countries tell me."
After Ann and Barack's marriage fell apart, the young Barack Obama, Jr. spent four years with his mother and stepfather
in Jakarta
, Indonesia
. He returned to Honolulu at age ten to live with his maternal grandparents in the Makiki
district of Honolulu and enrolled in the fifth grade at the Punahou School
. The tuition fees for the prestigious preparatory school
were paid with the aid of scholarships. Ann would later come back to Hawaii and pursue graduate studies; she eventually earned a PhD in anthropology
and went on to be employed on development projects in Indonesia and around the world helping impoverished women obtain microfinance
. When she returned to Indonesia in 1977 for her Masters' fieldwork, Obama stayed in the United States with his grandparents. Obama writes in his memoir, Dreams From My Father
, stated: "I’d arrived at an unspoken pact with my grandparents: I could live with them and they'd leave me alone so long as I kept my trouble out of sight."
Obama and his half-sister Maya Soetoro
referred to their maternal grandmother as "Toot" — short for "tutu," the Hawaiian word
for grandmother. In his book, Obama described his grandmother as "quiet yet firm", in contrast to Obama's "boisterous" grandfather Stanley. Obama considered his grandmother "a trailblazer of sorts, the first woman vice-president of a local bank." Her colleagues recall her as a "tough boss" who would make you "sink or swim", but who had a "soft spot for those willing to work hard." She retired from the Bank of Hawaii
in 1986.
During an interview for Vanity Fair
, Obama said, “She was the opposite of a dreamer, at least by the time I knew her... Whether that was always the case or whether she scaled back her dreams as time went on and learned to deal with certain disappointments is not entirely clear. But she was just a very tough, sensible, no-nonsense person.” During his teenage years, it was his grandmother who “injected” into him “a lot of that very midwestern, sort of traditional sense of prudence and hard work,” even though “some of those values didn’t sort of manifest themselves until I got older.”
During an interview with Diane Sawyer
, "She never got a college education, but is one of the smartest people I know... She's where I get my practical streak. That part of me that's hardheaded, I get from her. She's tough as nails." Obama said his iconic image of his grandmother was seeing her come home from work and trading her business outfit and girdle
for a muumuu
, some slippers and a drink and a cigarette.
every day." Madelyn Dunham suffered from severe osteoporosis
. In 2008, she underwent both corneal transplant and hip replacement surgeries.
On March 18, 2008, in a speech on race relations
in Philadelphia in the wake of controversial videos
of Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright
surfacing, Obama described his grandmother:
On March 20, 2008, in a radio interview on Philadelphia's WIP (AM), Obama explained this remark by saying:
Obama's use of the phrase "typical white person" was highlighted by a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News
and subsequently picked up by commentators on the Huffington Post blog, ABC News
and other media outlets. In a CNN
interview, when Larry King
asked him to clarify the "typical white person" remark, Obama said:
Dennis Ching, who worked with her for more than 40 years, "never heard her say anything like that. I never heard her say anything negative about anything." Hawaiian State Senator Sam Slom
, who worked with her at the Bank of Hawaii
, said "I never heard Madelyn say anything disparaging about people of African ancestry
or Asian ancestry
or anybody's ancestry." Her brother, Charlie Payne
, told the Associated Press
that his sister's reaction to being made a campaign issue was "no more than just sort of raised eyebrows."
In April 2008, Madelyn Dunham appeared briefly in her first campaign ad for her grandson, saying that Obama had "a lot of depth, and a broadness of view."
In a September 10, 2008 interview with the Late Show with David Letterman
, Obama described his grandmother as follows:
On October 20, 2008, the Obama campaign announced that he would suspend campaign events on October 23 and 24 to spend some time with Dunham. His communications director told reporters that she had fallen ill in the preceding weeks, and that while she was released from the hospital the week before, her health had deteriorated "to the point where her situation is very serious." In an October 23, 2008 interview with CBS News, Obama described his grandmother as follows: "She has really been the rock of the family, the foundation of the family. Whatever strength, discipline – that – that I have – it comes from her."
on November 3, Obama said, "She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America. They’re not famous. Their names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day they work hard. They aren’t seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing." Dunham's absentee ballot, received by the election office on October 27, was included in Hawaii's total. On December 23, 2008, after a private memorial service at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu
, Obama and his sister scattered their grandmother's ashes in the ocean at Lanai Lookout
. It was the same spot where they had scattered their mother's ashes in 1995. Obama was staying at Plantation Estate
at the time.
, and smaller amounts of Scottish
, Welsh
, Irish
and German
ancestors, who settled in the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Her most recent native European ancestor was her great-great grandfather, Robert Perry, who was born in Anglesey, Wales in 1786 and whose father, Henry Perry, first settled Radnor, Ohio
in 1803. Robert Perry's wife, Sarah Hoskins, was also born in Wales and immigrated to Delaware County, Ohio
as a young child. Wild Bill Hickok
is Madelyn's sixth cousin, four times removed. According to oral tradition
, her mother had some Cherokee
ancestors, although researchers have found no concrete evidence of this to date.
Ancestry chart source: New England Historic Genealogical Society
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, the 44th and current President of the United States of America. She and her husband Stanley Armour Dunham
Stanley Armour Dunham
Stanley Armour Dunham was the maternal grandfather of U.S. President Barack Obama. He and his wife Madelyn Payne Dunham raised Obama from the age of 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii.-Early life:...
raised Obama from age ten in their Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
apartment, where on November 2, 2008, she died two days before her grandson was elected President.
Early life
Madelyn Lee Payne was born in Peru, KansasPeru, Kansas
Peru is a city in Chautauqua County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 139.-Geography:Peru is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 183...
, the eldest of four children of Rolla Charles "R.C." Payne (August 23, 1892 – October 15, 1968) and Leona Belle (McCurry) Payne (May 7, 1897 – March 22, 1968). In Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father
Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by United States President Barack Obama. It was first published in July 1995 as he was preparing to launch his political career, five years after being elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in...
, he describes them as "stern Methodist parents who did not believe in drinking
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
, playing cards
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
or dancing
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
." She moved with her parents to Augusta, Kansas
Augusta, Kansas
Augusta is a city in Butler County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,274.-19th century:The confluence of the Whitewater River and the Walnut River was originally inhabited by Native Americans , who found the land ideal for hunting and fishing. In 1868 C. N...
at the age of three. Madelyn was an honor roll student and one of the best students at Augusta High School, where she graduated in 1940. Despite her strict upbringing, she liked to go to Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
to see big band concerts
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
. While in Wichita, she met Stanley Dunham
Stanley Armour Dunham
Stanley Armour Dunham was the maternal grandfather of U.S. President Barack Obama. He and his wife Madelyn Payne Dunham raised Obama from the age of 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii.-Early life:...
from El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado is a city situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County, located in south-central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Butler County...
, and the two married on May 5, 1940, the night of Madelyn's senior prom
Prom
In the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
.
World War II
During World War II, Stanley Dunham enlisted in the ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. Madelyn worked the night shift on a Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
B-29 assembly line in Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
. Her brother Charlie Payne
Charles T. Payne
Charles Thomas Payne is an American who served in the U.S. military during World War II as a member of the division that liberated Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was 20 years old at the time...
was part of the 89th Infantry Division, which liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald, a fact Barack Obama has referred to in speeches. Madelyn gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Stanley Ann
Ann Dunham
Stanley Ann Dunham , the mother of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was an American anthropologist who specialized in economic anthropology and rural development. Dunham was nicknamed Anna, later known as Dr. Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, and finally Ann Dunham Sutoro...
, who was later known as Ann, at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita on November 29, 1942.
Post-World War II
With Madelyn and Stanley both working full-time, the family moved to Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City is a small city in Kay and Osage counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which was named after the Ponca Tribe. Located in north central Oklahoma, it lies approximately south of the Kansas border, and approximately east of Interstate 35. 25,919 people called Ponca City home at the...
, Vernon, Texas
Vernon, Texas
Vernon is a city in Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 11,660; it was 11,077 in the 2005 census estimate. Vernon is the county seat of Wilbarger County....
, El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado is a city situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County, located in south-central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Butler County...
, Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
and finally settled in Mercer Island, Washington
Mercer Island, Washington
Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States and the name of the island in Lake Washington on which the city sits. The population was 22,699 at the 2010 census....
, where Ann graduated from Mercer Island High School
Mercer Island High School
Mercer Island High School is a public high school located in Mercer Island, Washington in the U.S., as part of the Mercer Island School District....
. In El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado is a city situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County, located in south-central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Butler County...
, Stanley had managed a furniture store while Madelyn worked in restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s. In Seattle, Stanley worked in a bigger furniture store (Standard-Grunbaum Furniture) while Madelyn eventually became vice-president of a local bank. Mercer Island was then "a rural, idyllic place," quiet, politically conservative and all white. Madelyn and Stanley attended Sunday services at the East Shore Unitarian Church in nearby Bellevue
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
. While in Washington Madelyn attended the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
although she never completed a degree.
Hawaii
The Dunhams then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Stanley found a better furniture store opportunity, and Madelyn started working at the Bank of HawaiiBank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state...
in 1960 and was promoted to be one of the first female bank vice president
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
s in 1970. In 1970s Honolulu, both women and the minority white population were routinely the target of discrimination. Ann attended the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, and while attending a Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
class, she met Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Obama, Sr.
Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of U.S. President Barack Obama. He is a central subject in his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father.-Early life:...
, a graduate student from Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. Stanley and Madelyn were unhappy about Ann's marriage to Obama, Sr., particularly after receiving a long, angry letter from his father who "didn't want the Obama blood sullied by a white woman." The Dunhams adapted, however, as Madelyn was quoted as saying, "I am a little dubious of the things that people from foreign countries tell me."
After Ann and Barack's marriage fell apart, the young Barack Obama, Jr. spent four years with his mother and stepfather
Lolo Soetoro
Lolo Soetoro, also known as Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo or Mangundikardjo, was the Indonesian stepfather of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America.-Early life and education:...
in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. He returned to Honolulu at age ten to live with his maternal grandparents in the Makiki
Makiki
Makiki is an area of Honolulu, Hawaii located northeast of downtown Honolulu generally stretching east to west from Punahou Street to Pensacola Street and north to south from Round Top Drive/Makiki Heights Drive to Lunalilo Freeway. Punchbowl, an extinct tuff cone, and Tantalus, tower over the...
district of Honolulu and enrolled in the fifth grade at the Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
. The tuition fees for the prestigious preparatory school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
were paid with the aid of scholarships. Ann would later come back to Hawaii and pursue graduate studies; she eventually earned a PhD in anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
and went on to be employed on development projects in Indonesia and around the world helping impoverished women obtain microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
. When she returned to Indonesia in 1977 for her Masters' fieldwork, Obama stayed in the United States with his grandparents. Obama writes in his memoir, Dreams From My Father
Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by United States President Barack Obama. It was first published in July 1995 as he was preparing to launch his political career, five years after being elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in...
, stated: "I’d arrived at an unspoken pact with my grandparents: I could live with them and they'd leave me alone so long as I kept my trouble out of sight."
Obama and his half-sister Maya Soetoro
Maya Soetoro-Ng
Maya Kassandra Soetoro-Ng is the maternal half-sister of Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States. She was previously a high school history teacher and university instructor in Hawaii.-Early life:...
referred to their maternal grandmother as "Toot" — short for "tutu," the Hawaiian word
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
for grandmother. In his book, Obama described his grandmother as "quiet yet firm", in contrast to Obama's "boisterous" grandfather Stanley. Obama considered his grandmother "a trailblazer of sorts, the first woman vice-president of a local bank." Her colleagues recall her as a "tough boss" who would make you "sink or swim", but who had a "soft spot for those willing to work hard." She retired from the Bank of Hawaii
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state...
in 1986.
During an interview for Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, Obama said, “She was the opposite of a dreamer, at least by the time I knew her... Whether that was always the case or whether she scaled back her dreams as time went on and learned to deal with certain disappointments is not entirely clear. But she was just a very tough, sensible, no-nonsense person.” During his teenage years, it was his grandmother who “injected” into him “a lot of that very midwestern, sort of traditional sense of prudence and hard work,” even though “some of those values didn’t sort of manifest themselves until I got older.”
During an interview with Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....
, "She never got a college education, but is one of the smartest people I know... She's where I get my practical streak. That part of me that's hardheaded, I get from her. She's tough as nails." Obama said his iconic image of his grandmother was seeing her come home from work and trading her business outfit and girdle
Girdle
A girdle is a garment that encircles the lower torso, perhaps extending below the hips, and worn often for support. The word girdle originally meant a belt. In modern English, the term girdle is most commonly used for a form of women's foundation wear that replaced the corset in popularity...
for a muumuu
Muumuu
The muumuu or muumuu is a loose dress of Hawaiian origin that hangs from the shoulder. Like the Aloha shirt, muumuu exports are often brilliantly colored with floral patterns of generic Polynesian motifs. Muumuu for local Hawaiian residents are more subdued in tone...
, some slippers and a drink and a cigarette.
Later years
Until her death, Dunham lived in the same small high-rise apartment where she raised her grandson Barack. She was an avid bridge player, but mostly stayed at home in her apartment "listening to books on tape and watching her grandson on CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
every day." Madelyn Dunham suffered from severe osteoporosis
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is deteriorating, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone is altered...
. In 2008, she underwent both corneal transplant and hip replacement surgeries.
2008 presidential campaign
Madelyn Dunham was generally not seen in the 2008 presidential campaign. In March 2008, the 85-year-old Dunham was quoted as saying, "I am not giving any interviews...I am in poor health."On March 18, 2008, in a speech on race relations
A More Perfect Union (speech)
"A More Perfect Union" is the name of a speech delivered by Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008 in the course of the contest for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination...
in Philadelphia in the wake of controversial videos
Jeremiah Wright controversy
The Jeremiah Wright controversy is an American political issue that gained national attention in March 2008 when ABC News, after reviewing dozens of U.S. 2008 Presidential Election candidate Barack Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright's sermons, excerpted parts which were subject to intense media scrutiny...
of Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright
Jeremiah Wright
Jeremiah Alvesta Wright, Jr. is Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ , a megachurch in Chicago exceeding 6,000 members...
surfacing, Obama described his grandmother:
- I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypeEthnic stereotypeAn ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group.Ethnic stereotypes are commonly portrayed in ethnic jokes.-Ethnic stereotypes:*African Americans...
s that made me cringe.
On March 20, 2008, in a radio interview on Philadelphia's WIP (AM), Obama explained this remark by saying:
- The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity – she doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know...there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society.
Obama's use of the phrase "typical white person" was highlighted by a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
and subsequently picked up by commentators on the Huffington Post blog, ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
and other media outlets. In a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
interview, when Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
asked him to clarify the "typical white person" remark, Obama said:
- Well, what I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that were responses that I think many people feel. She's not extraordinary in that regard. She is somebody that I love as much as anybody. I mean, she has literally helped to raise me. But those are fears that are embedded in our culture, and embedded in our society, and even within our own families, even within a family like mine that is diverse.
Dennis Ching, who worked with her for more than 40 years, "never heard her say anything like that. I never heard her say anything negative about anything." Hawaiian State Senator Sam Slom
Sam Slom
Samuel Morgan Slom, known as Sam Slom , is a Republican member of the Hawaii Senate who since 1996 represented the 8th District, which includes Hawaii Kai, Aina Haina, Kahala and Diamond Head...
, who worked with her at the Bank of Hawaii
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state...
, said "I never heard Madelyn say anything disparaging about people of African ancestry
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
or Asian ancestry
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
or anybody's ancestry." Her brother, Charlie Payne
Charles T. Payne
Charles Thomas Payne is an American who served in the U.S. military during World War II as a member of the division that liberated Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was 20 years old at the time...
, told the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
that his sister's reaction to being made a campaign issue was "no more than just sort of raised eyebrows."
In April 2008, Madelyn Dunham appeared briefly in her first campaign ad for her grandson, saying that Obama had "a lot of depth, and a broadness of view."
In a September 10, 2008 interview with the Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
, Obama described his grandmother as follows:
- Eighty-seven years old. She can't travel. She has terrible osteoporosis so she can't fly, but, you know, she has been the rock of our family and she is sharp as a tack. I mean, she's just – she follows everything, but she has a very subdued, sort of Midwestern attitude about these things. So when I got nominated, she called and said, ‘That's nice, Barry, that's nice.'"
On October 20, 2008, the Obama campaign announced that he would suspend campaign events on October 23 and 24 to spend some time with Dunham. His communications director told reporters that she had fallen ill in the preceding weeks, and that while she was released from the hospital the week before, her health had deteriorated "to the point where her situation is very serious." In an October 23, 2008 interview with CBS News, Obama described his grandmother as follows: "She has really been the rock of the family, the foundation of the family. Whatever strength, discipline – that – that I have – it comes from her."
Death
On November 2, 2008 (November 3, 2008 in the continental United States), the Obama campaign announced that Madelyn Dunham had "died peacefully after a battle with cancer" in Hawaii. Senator Obama and his sister Maya released a statement saying, "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility." At a rally in Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
on November 3, Obama said, "She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America. They’re not famous. Their names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day they work hard. They aren’t seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing." Dunham's absentee ballot, received by the election office on October 27, was included in Hawaii's total. On December 23, 2008, after a private memorial service at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu
First Unitarian Church of Honolulu
The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu is the only Hawaii-based congregation within the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is located at 2500 Pali Highway in the Nu'uanu Valley.The congregation was founded in 1952 as a lay fellowship...
, Obama and his sister scattered their grandmother's ashes in the ocean at Lanai Lookout
Koko Head
Koko Head is the headland that defines the eastern side of Maunalua Bay along the southeastern side of the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. On its western slope is the community of Portlock, a part of Hawaii Kai...
. It was the same spot where they had scattered their mother's ashes in 1995. Obama was staying at Plantation Estate
Plantation Estate
Plantation Estate is a single-story wood frame Pacific Ocean-front house at 55 Kailuana Place in Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii that Barack Obama rented to be used as a Winter White House during Christmas break vacations in 2008, 2009 and 2010....
at the time.
Ancestry
Madelyn Payne Dunham's heritage consists mostly of English ancestorsEnglish American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
, and smaller amounts of Scottish
Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
, Welsh
Welsh American
Welsh Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Wales. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However,...
, Irish
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
and German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
ancestors, who settled in the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Her most recent native European ancestor was her great-great grandfather, Robert Perry, who was born in Anglesey, Wales in 1786 and whose father, Henry Perry, first settled Radnor, Ohio
Radnor, Ohio
Radnor is an unincorporated community in central Radnor Township, Delaware County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 43066. It lies along State Route 203 at its intersection with Radnor Road.-References:...
in 1803. Robert Perry's wife, Sarah Hoskins, was also born in Wales and immigrated to Delaware County, Ohio
Delaware County, Ohio
Delaware County is a fast-growing suburban county in the state of Ohio, United States, within the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the United States Census Bureau's 2004 population estimates, Delaware County's population of 142,503 made it the fastest growing county in...
as a young child. Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
is Madelyn's sixth cousin, four times removed. According to oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
, her mother had some Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
ancestors, although researchers have found no concrete evidence of this to date.
Ancestry chart source: New England Historic Genealogical Society
New England Historic Genealogical Society
The New England Historic Genealogical Society is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an eight-story archive and research center....
External links
- "Family precedent: Obama's grandmother blazed trails'" USA Today, April 8, 2008
- "Remembering Madelyn Dunham" Honolulu AdvertiserHonolulu AdvertiserThe Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...
, November 15, 2008, includes photo gallery and memorial service video