The Obama and Robinson families announced the death on Friday of Marian Robinson, the mother of former US first lady Michelle Obama. Robinson was a source of stability and support, particularly during the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency. She was eighty-six. Often referred to as the “first grandma,” Robinson was essential in providing care for her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, in the early years of the Obama administration.
“After being gently prodded, she consented to relocate to the White House with Michelle and Barack. She was essential to us. She was required by the girls. In a “peaceful” death on Friday morning, the family said, “And she ended up being our rock through it all.”
Robinson was one of seven children born in 1937 on Chicago’s South Side. She experienced the dramatic highs and lows of racial relations in the United States throughout her adolescent years, when her parents separated.
As a result of being denied the opportunity to work for larger construction companies or join a union because of the color of his skin, her father “grew mistrustful of a world that seemed to have little place for him,” according to the family statement. Yet, when Barack Obama became the first Black American president, her daughter and son-in-law were able to enter the White House. The family claimed that Robinson was never a good fit for the glitz and glamour of the White House.
According to the family statement, she chose to spend her time upstairs with a TV tray in the area outside her bedroom that had large windows looking out at the Washington Monument rather than mixing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates. She formed close friendships “with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home,” it was said.
Robinson wed in 1960 and had two kids, one of whom was the ex-first lady. According to her relatives, she was also a teacher and a secretary. Her relatives claimed that throughout her eight years in the White House, she would frequently slip past the security gates to purchase greeting cards from surrounding shops. Occasionally, other shoppers would see her and comment that she looked like the first lady’s mother.