Obama's Ascent to Power

• Obama, seen here looking into the crowd after giving his acceptance speech in Chicago on Nov. 4, defeated Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, in a long campaign full of twists and turns.
  
  
  

  David Guttenfelder, AP

• The child of a mother from Kansas and father from a small village in Kenya, Obama spent parts of his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia. In this 1960s era photo, he plays with a baseball bat in Hawaii.
  
  
  

  Obama Presidential Campaign / AP

• Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, met Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., when both were students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; they married in 1960 and their son Barack - "blessed" in Arabic - was born on Aug. 4, 1961.
  
  
  

  Obama Presidential Campaign / AP

• This is a rare photo of Obama with his father. Barack Obama Sr. left the family to study at Harvard when his son was 2 years old. He returned only once to visit his son in Indonesia. This visit, when the junior Barack Obama was 10, was the last time he saw his father.
  
  
  

  Obama for America / AP

• Obama's mother, an anthropologist, had already remarried by that time. In this picture, a 9-year-old Obama sits with his mother, his Indonesian step-father, Lolo Soetoro, and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
  
  
  

  Obama Presidential Campaign / AP

• After four years in Indonesia, Obama returned to Hawaii. He first lived with his mother and then with his maternal grandparents. Here, a very young Obama plays in the Hawaiian surf with his grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham.
  
  
  

  Obama Presidential Campaign / AP

• In Hawaii, Obama was a scholarship student at the prestigious Punahou School, a private academy in Honolulu. This 1976 yearbook photo shows him, third from right in the front row, with his 9th grade class outside of the school.
  
  
  

  The Oahuan, yearbook of Punahou School / AP

• A teen-aged Obama loved basketball and played as a forward. He was dubbed "Barry O'Bomber," and favored a left-handed double pump shot. During his senior year, the varsity team captured the state championship.
  
  
  

  Steve Pope, AP

• "Barry" Obama appears in his 1978 high school senior yearbook in the second row right. Though he had a diverse group of friends, he and two others among Punahou's few black students met weekly for what became known as "ethnic corner." In a 1999 article, Obama recalled: "I probably questioned my identity a bit harder than most."
  
  
  

  Punahoe Schools / AP

• These photos also appeared in Obama's senior yearbook. During high school, Obama was smart, but not "particularly driven or ambitious," recalled his half-sister. "He was a young man concerned with ... hanging out with his buddies, playing basketball, body surfing and eating in excess."
  
  
  

  Punahou Schools / AP