Becoming:
- Nihan Iscan
- Jun 22
- 4 min read
By: Michelle Obama
Number of Pages: 421
Published On: 2018
“They were me as I’d once been, and I was them as they could be. The energy I felt thrumming in that school had nothing to do with obstacles. It was the power of nine hundred girls striving.”
During the 1960s, America was in the midst of a turbulent shift. The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, ending legal segregation between white and black Americans. JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. The Cold War was unfolding in proxy battles between the Soviet Union and the U.S., jeopardizing thousands of lives in various regions around the world. Domestically, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War became a major point of criticism, sparking mass protests on college campuses across the country. In the early years of the decade, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, fueling widespread fear and anxiety. The Great Migration—the large-scale movement of Black Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North—was changing the racial demographics of many states. Meanwhile, the use of drugs like marijuana and LSD became increasingly popular throughout the country.
Michelle Robinson Obama was born during this era of unrest, on the South Side of Chicago. Her parents, Marian and Fraser Robinson, were hard-working, selfless people who gave their all to their children, Craig and Michelle. The Robinsons lived on the second floor of a house owned by Aunt Robbie. Located on Euclid Avenue, this two-story home was where Michelle grew up and learned many of the values that would shape who she was—and what kind of First Lady of the United States she would become years later.
Michelle's grandfather, born in 1912, “was the grandson of slaves, the son of a millworker, and the oldest of what would be 10 children in his family.” He moved to the South Side of Chicago during the Great Migration, fleeing racial oppression and seeking better opportunities. Like him, thousands of Black Southerners migrated northward, dreaming of a better life—decent jobs, good education for their children, improved living conditions, and a chance to make a lasting impact. Unfortunately, landing an industrial job in Chicago required a union card, and if you were Black, more often than not, you didn’t get one. For many men in Michelle’s family, the lack of union access meant being shut out of well-paying jobs.
Despite the challenges of growing up in a marginalized community and lacking access to expensive academic resources, Michelle worked hard and succeeded in high school, eventually earning a place at Princeton University in New Jersey. There, she met her roommate, Suzanne—a free spirit who loved adventure, traveling, and meeting new people. Suzanne made a deep impression on Michelle, showing her the importance of living life fully and doing what you love. Tragically, Suzanne passed away from cancer years later, which caused a significant shift in Michelle’s mindset about what truly matters in life.
After Princeton, Michelle graduated from Harvard Law School and secured a high-paying attorney position at Sidley & Austin in Chicago. It was there that she met a fellow Black Harvard Law student with a funny name—Barack Obama.
Becoming, a biography of the former First Lady of the United States, is a captivating, encouraging, and insightful narrative. It highlights the importance of a strong and supportive family and mentors, the significance of consistent hard work, and the value of finding your voice and feeling comfortable sharing your unique, authentic story.
As a Turkish-American, as a woman, and as a Muslim living in the U.S., trying to shape my own story and aiming to make a greater positive impact than the world expects of me, I found this biography to be a powerful source of encouragement and motivation.
Just like Michelle, I know that some around me doubt my abilities and question whether I can make a meaningful impact based on my appearance and my background. And just like Michelle, I’ve also found myself trapped in a self-limiting box—accepting failure before it's even a reality. As she says, “Failure is a feeling long before it becomes an actual result. It's a vulnerability that breeds with self-doubt and then escalates, often deliberately, by fear.”
Hearing her story helped me realize that the negative voices of the outside world mean nothing when you have a clear goal in your mind—a goal to create some form of positive change. When you are fully immersed in the impact you want to make and committed to taking consistent steps toward it, the doubts and prejudices of others can no longer shake your focus.
I, too, can make a lasting impact and support those who need it most. I, too, can be the voice of the underdogs and a representative for marginalized communities. Just like Michelle, I can embrace every part of my story and tell it with pride.
To Michelle: thank you for sharing your story of both success and failure, your journey of growing comfortable in your own skin, and the path that took you from a small room on Euclid Avenue to the White House.
Young women are often raised to constantly doubt their competence, their adequacy, and their role in the world. We’re always questioning whether we’re worthy or good enough to own our work or stand tall. Becoming was a powerful resource for many women because it showed that even as the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama also had those doubts—but she didn’t let them take hold of her or stop her from stepping out into the world and achieving great things. When you work hard, when you put in the hours, when you don’t let the world define who you are—and instead define yourself with confidence—those worries won’t faze you.
It’s important to have women mentors in our lives who show us that even with those worries in the back of our minds, success is still possible. We all struggle with negative thoughts from time to time—even the best of us. What matters is that you, with the help of a strong and supportive community behind you, remind yourself that you are worthy, valuable, and that your voice matters, no matter what.
Here is a short video of a discussion between influential women—one of whom is Michelle Obama—speaking on the importance of self-worth.
PDF - Favorite Quotes from the Book:
Rating of the book: 10/10
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