Though he was born in Hawaii, Barack Obama’s family spans the globe. Per the Miller Center, his mother, Ann Dunham, was a white woman born in Kansas. While attending the University of Hawaii, she met and married Barack Obama Sr, a student from Kenya. His parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya, according to Chicago Sun Times, where Obama eventually had seven half-siblings from his father’s other marriages and relationships: Abongo, Auma, Mark, David, Abo, Bernard, and George.
Dunham also married again, this time to another University of Hawaii student, Lolo Soetoro. Soetoro was from Indonesia, where Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, was born.
When Obama married, his global family finally came together in one room. “I remember his wedding. And there were everything from the very fair Kansas complexion, you know, the Scots-Irish thing, to the blue-Black Kenyan,” his sister recalled, according to a publication from Life magazine. “And we looked like the rainbow tribe — and me in between. I’m Indonesian. The united colors. Never a dull moment, right?”