Michelle Obama: The Legacy Of A First Lady

First lady Michelle Obama hugs President Barack Obama
First lady Michelle Obama hugs President Barack Obama after his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
First lady Michelle Obama hugs President Barack Obama
First lady Michelle Obama hugs President Barack Obama after his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Michelle Obama: The Legacy Of A First Lady

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

At the end of his farewell address to the American people, President Barack Obama pointed at his wife and called her by her full maiden name: Michelle LaVaughan Robinson. It was a speech where the president reflected on the full sweep of his eight years in office, but his tribute to Michelle Obama drew some of the most sustained and emotional applause of the night.

Before she was First Lady, Michelle Obama was a daughter of the South Side neighborhood of South Shore, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law, a lawyer, a University of Chicago dean and a hospital administrator.

From the East Wing of the White House, she fought against childhood obesity and for veterans services and education for girls around the world.

Morning Shift spoke with Peter Slevin, associate professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and author of the 2015 book Michelle Obama: A Life about the impact Michelle Obama had during her eight years as first lady and what her legacy will be.