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By Mandy Taheri
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The Barack Obama Presidential Center officially opened Thursday in Chicago with a dedication ceremony attended by political leaders, community members, and celebrities. The $850 million campus, a cultural and civic hub on Chicago's South Side, opens to the public on Juneteenth.
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Barack Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening
Three former presidents, Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton along with former first ladies Jill Biden, Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, joined the Obamas in celebrating the opening of his presidential center in Chicago on Thursday. President Donald Trump was not in attendance.
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama praised her husband in a dedication speech, highlighting his presidential record and character, saying, “You did it all with such grace and class and cool. You made the hardest job in the world look like a walk in this beautiful park.”
During his address, Obama said, "Democracy can be frustrating. It can be slow. It can be inefficient. And yet more than anything, I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious, our democracy truly is, and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens."
At another point in his speech, he said, "I am not immune to anger or doubt. But I do know this. When we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters, then we give away our power to decide our own futures, and we open the door to the most ruthless, or the most careless, or the most fearful among us, who see some groups and some people as more equal than others, and see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies, and keep those who are different in their place."
The former president added, "I do not believe that is the story of America that prevails."
The ceremony featured performances by several prominent musicians, including Jennifer Hudson, who sang the national anthem, as well as Bono, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony, Eddie Vedder, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder.
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The ceremony also drew a range of political, cultural and business leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom; civil rights leaders Andrew Young and Al Sharpton; media personalities Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert; actor Tom Hanks; tennis legend Billie Jean King; Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts; former German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Thursday's opening ceremony was only for invited guests, but thousands attended a watch party outside the center's campus.
What is the Barack Obama Presidential Center?
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a new museum, library, and community campus rising in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side. Built in partnership with the University of Chicago, the center will house exhibitions, community spaces, a Chicago Public Library branch, and the nonprofit Obama Foundation’s headquarters. It is also the first presidential library to operate under a fully digital model, with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserving and digitizing Obama-era documents off‑site.
As many as 1 million people are expected to visit the center's more than 19-acre campus each year. Tickets to the center are already sold out until October.
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Obama personally shaped many of the center’s design details, from the textured stone on the museum’s 225-foot tower to the high-backed reading chairs in the library. One of his more lighthearted additions is a set of publicly accessible charcoal grills—an idea he floated at a 2017 community meeting that drew warm laughter from local residents.
Construction began in 2021 on the nearly 20-acre campus in Chicago's Jackson Park. The Obama Foundation said the privately funded project cost about $850 million, significantly more than the roughly $350 million initially projected when plans for the center were first unveiled.
"For me, this center could not be any place else," Obama said Thursday. "It's an expression of thanks, an acknowledgment that so much of what I hold most dear, I owe to the people of this city and the people of these surrounding neighborhoods. And it's why we designed the center not to be some lifeless mausoleum — I am too young for that; not just a place to see Michelle's dresses, although I understand that will be the top attraction.
"We want it to be a vibrant living celebration of community where we can learn together and share the joys of art and music and sports and play, because it's in those moments that we're reminded of our common humanity, and strengthen the bonds of trust that not only make our lives richer, but make our democracy stronger," he said.
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