Barack Obama Sr. Letter Collection: What The Post & Email Has Learned

ARTICLE PLANNED IN NEAR FUTURE

by Sharon Rondeau

(Jul. 7, 2016) — On July 3, The Post & Email published an article stating that it had sought access to a collection of letters reported to have been written by Barack Hussein Obama Sr. now located at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.

The Schomburg Center is a division of the New York Public Library (NYPL).  The existence of the letter collection was first reported by Rachel Swarns of The New York Times on June 18, the day before Fathers’ Day.

Swarns is a veteran New York Times columnist and author of a book on the family of Michelle Obama titled “American Tapestry.”  In her June 18 article, she stated that the White House was made aware of the letters in 2013 but that Obama has not yet seen them.

Swarns began her article with “The archivist stumbled across the file in a stack of boxes on the second floor of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The yellowing letters inside dated back more than half a century, chronicling the dreams and struggles of a young man in Kenya…His letters would help change the course of American history.”

The letters were reportedly handwritten or typed by Obama Sr. between the years of 1958 and 1964 and largely dealt with his applications for financial aid to leave Kenya, where he grew up, and study in the United States.  A financial aid application dated May 18, 1959 states that he was married with one child in Kenya, but Swarns and documents released by the U.S. State Department in July 2010 indicate that while studying at the University of Hawaii, Obama Sr. married an American woman.

On a 1964 application to extend his student visa, Obama Sr. referred to his American wife as “Ann Obama,” (page 14) and a “U.S.C.” (U.S. citizen) and indicated that they were separated.  His request to remain in the U.S. was ultimately denied as a result of what Harvard officials viewed as inappropriate behavior on his part.

Whether or not Obama Sr.’s marriage to Stanley Ann Dunham was valid given his existing marriage to a Kenyan woman was a question raised by immigration agents who reviewed his request to extend his stay.  On one of the State Department documents released to FOIA requesters, Obama Sr. acknowledged having a two-year-old son but did not name him.  He also provided two different birth years for himself:  1934 and 1936.

Since making our own inquiries of the library and the Schomburg Center beginning on June 20, The Post & Email has learned that Schomburg Center Director Dr. Kahlil Gibran Muhammad stepped down from his post on July 1.  Dr. Muhammad’s biography has not yet been updated to reflect the change.

Fullwood told us on Wednesday that “Dr. Khalil G. Muhammad left the Schomburg July 1, 2016. His successor has not been named yet.”

Muhammad is the great-grandson of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam.  Both Dr. Muhammad and Obama hail from the South Side of Chicago, although Obama claims a birthplace in Honolulu, HI.

During Muhammad’s tenure as director, he held a “forum” on Obama on election night 2012.  He has spoken to the media about “race and American history,” “America’s Founding Fathers and their connection to slavery, the prison industrial complex, the Trayvon Martin case, and the use of stop and frisk policies in New York City.”

One of the individuals nominating Muhammad for the Schomburg directorship in 2010 was Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was arrested for “disorderly conduct” in July 2009 after having been perceived as participating in a break-in at his home following his return from a business trip. After the arrest by a Cambridge, MA police officer, the charge was dropped.

Obama publicly opined that the police officer “acted stupidly” by arresting Gates, who Obama considers “a friend.”  Gates’s PBS mini-series, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” included both of Obama’s inaugurations as a part of Gates’s presentation of “500 years of African-American history.”

Since June 29, The Post & Email has corresponded by email with Steven Fullwood, Associate Curator; Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at Schomburg, who informed us that the archivist identified by Swarns as having found the letter collection, Christine McKay, is retired and was not replaced.  We had originally sought to question McKay as to where she found the letters, how they were gathered and over what length of time.

Swarns reported that the letters are now stored at an off-site, temperature-controlled facility.  Fullwood told The Post & Email that “The file forms part of the Phelps-Stokes Fund Records (PSF).”

On June 29, The Post & Email asked Fullwood, “Is there someone, perhaps Ms. McKay’s replacement, who could answer some questions as to how the documents were located, compiled, by whom, and when they became available to the public?…Would it be possible for me or one of my colleagues to view and photograph the collection for purposes of an article?” he responded with:

The Post & Email has contacted Ms. Olanrewaju for comment about the collection and is in the process of setting up a time to view and photograph the research copies to produce an exclusive article.