CHICAGO — Eight stories now rise 225 feet tall on Chicago’s South Side — the centerpiece of a campus set to tell the story of former President Barack Obama.
The Obama Presidential Center is opening on June 19, and the Obama Foundation says the 19-acre campus aims to be a “global hub for inspiring, empowering and connecting people to make change.
Its focal point is a towering granite-clad museum that sits on the northern end of the campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park, near the University of Chicago.
The building’s exterior features words from Obama’s 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
“He did not want it to simply be a time capsule, looking at his presidency in isolation,” Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation, said of President Obama’s vision for the campus. “He wanted his presidency to be put in context in the museum, which we've done."
The museum takes visitors through an immersive four-floor journey that begins with the founding of the United States and includes exhibits on social movements and Obama’s campaign and presidency.
The museum also features a full-scale Oval Office replica from Obama’s time in the White House, the Bible that he used for his inaugurations — the same one President Lincoln used — gowns worn by former First Lady Michelle Obama during her time in the White House, and a sky room with a panoramic view that includes Lake Michigan.
The campus also features an auditorium, named after Holocaust survivor and political activist Elie Wiesel; a regulation-sized basketball court with “YES WE CAN” and “FIRED UP, READY TO GO” emblazoned on its baselines; a fruit and vegetable garden; a playground; and a new Chicago Public Library branch.
Absent from the campus is the traditional physical presidential library that houses presidential records. Instead, the Obama Foundation is creating the first fully digital presidential archives. The foundation worked in coordination with the National Archives and Records Administration to ensure millions of documents from Obama’s presidency will be accessible to the public.
A South Side campus was proposed in 2015, and Jackson Park was selected as the site in 2016. Early projections initially predicted it would open in 2021, but lawsuits and cost overruns delayed construction. The Obama Foundation says the total cost to build the campus was $850 million, all of which came from private funding.
The campus is set to welcome between 750,000 and 1 million visitors each year.
“This is a unique place,” said John Roberson, incoming executive vice president of The Obama Foundation. “This is a place where people from the South Shore to South Korea are now going to have a place to come to be inspired, to feel empowered, and to connect, where they can share stories and values about how they're going to go back to their communities and be changemakers.”
There will be a dedication ceremony for the center on June 18 that is set to feature former President Obama. The following day, on Juneteenth, the center will open to the public.
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