{"id":1832,"date":"2026-06-20T17:38:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2026-06-20T17:38:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:38:57","slug":"the-first-100-visitors-to-the-obama-presidential-center-got-a-surprise-barack-and-michelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1832","title":{"rendered":"The first 100 visitors to the Obama Presidential center got a surprise: Barack and Michelle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Obamas, joined by former\u00a0\u201cReading Rainbow\u201d\u00a0host LeVar Burton, also read \u201cWhere the Wild Things Are\u201d to 25 school children at the Chicago Public Library branch inside the center. When the former president read Maurice Sendak\u2019s line about being \u201cking of all the wild things,\u201d Michelle Obama interjected with, \u201cAlthough there were no kings,\u201d to applause.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1831\">The pope knows Peru\u2019s mines firsthand, but a top banker is pleading with him to change his mind on rare earths<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Later, awed guests shook hands with the Obamas against the backdrop of a colorful, 38-foot-tall painting depicting a map of Chicago stretching to the ceiling, inspired by Carl Sandburg\u2019s 1914 poem about the city: \u201cstormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt was perfect. It was great,\u201d said 18-year-old Houefa Agassounon from Chicago after the surprise visit from the Obamas. \u201cI was literally crying. I asked for a hug and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She wrote a letter to the Obama Foundation last year, asking if she could be there when it opened. She said meeting the Obamas was a bonus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is just the greatest thing of my 18 years of life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Juneteenth\u00a0opening followed a\u00a0star-studded dedication ceremony\u00a0where the Obamas gave rousing speeches to an audience including three former presidents, their former first ladies, and a host of politicians, A-list celebrities, musicians, athletes and others. Thousands more joined the livestream from a nearby park.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1829\">Iran closes Strait of Hormuz again, citing Israel\u2019s attacks in Lebanon, and downplays delayed talks with U.S. that will begin in Switzerland<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A\u00a0weekend of events\u00a0is planned for the sprawling campus on Chicago\u2019s South Side near where the Obamas lived and began his political career. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the general public are sold out through the end of November. But those lucky enough to score them for the first day got the unexpected thrill of meeting the Obamas themselves.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The campus includes a towering museum that covers the political and personal realms of the nation\u2019s first Black president and first lady, while public spaces include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground and athletic center, basketball courts and a picnic area with grills.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The tower\u2019s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot tall concrete capital letters, an excerpt of\u00a0Obama\u2019s 2015 speech\u00a0commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, \u201cYou are America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1827\">With the exits of Apple\u2019s Tim Cook and Dow\u2019s Jim Fitterling, the Fortune 500 is losing two groundbreaking gay CEOs\u2014leaving just one<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Obamas, joined by former\u00a0\u201cReading Rainbow\u201d\u00a0host LeVar Burton, also read \u201cWhere the Wild Things Are\u201d to 25 school<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The first 100 visitors to the Obama Presidential center got a surprise: Barack and Michelle - 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