May 6, 2022
Michelle Obama Dedicates Special Exhibit To Mother In Obama Presidential Center Museum
In honor of Mother’s Day, Michelle Obama announced that she’s dedicating a special exhibit to her mother and “guiding light,” Marian Robinson, inside the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago.
According to Good Morning America, the exhibit, called “Opening the White House,” will be infused with so many of the values that Obama’s mother instilled in her. The former first lady declared an open invitation for families to experience a “warm and welcoming space where everyone feels at home.”
The exhibit will feature scale replicas of the White House’s East Room, where the Obamas once held dinners and music series celebrations, as well as the Blue Room and the South Lawn, where the family hosted garden tours, Easter Egg Rolls, state arrivals, and so much more.
Robinson, proclaimed as the “first grandmother” in her daughter’s memoir, Becoming, devoted eight years of her life to helping her daughter and son-in-law while in the White House.
“This is just one part of the story we’re telling at the Obama Presidential Center,” Obama said in her announcement. “In the years ahead, we want to welcome you to Chicago to see it—maybe even with your mom,” she said. “So Happy Mother’s Day everyone. And especially to you, mommy.”
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In Obama’s announcement, which was posted to her Instagram today, she reflected on the many lessons she learned from her mother. The close relationship between mother and daughter was translated in these words:
“Growing up with my mom was always an adventure,” Obama said. “It was trips to the library as a toddler to learn about ABCs; it was the entire family piling into our car to go to the local drive-in; and my mom inviting family over for New Year’s Eve, passing around her special hors d’oeuvres, and toasting in the new year.”
She added: “But above all else,” she added, “my mother gave me that nonstop, unconditional love that was so important for me to grow up. In so many ways, she fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice and how to understand my own worth. I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without my mom.”
The museum building will be open to the public in 2025.
“Love you, Mom–thank you for being a guiding light in my life,” Obama wrote alongside her post.