OUR ANNUAL PROGRAM IN HONOR OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS FREE OF CHARGE, BUT REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED; CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is currently under construction in a portion of Jackson Park in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. Scheduled to open in the first half of 2026, the 19-acre campus will include a museum and library commemorating the presidency of Barack Obama, along with a forum building housing an auditorium and a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and a programs and athletics center known as Home Court. The Obama Foundation will also be housed here. The library will be the first fully digitized presidential library in the United States.
In 2016, the foundation selected New York-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Chicago-based Interactive Design Architects to jointly lead the design and engineering of the the three main buildings. Moody Nolan Chicago and Renauld Deandre Mitchell were selected for Home Court. Ralph Appelbaum Associates (which worked on the National Museum of African American History) will lead the exhibition design team, with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates as landscape architect. The complex will comprise four buildings in geometric shapes and covered in light-colored stone. The museum building is the tallest at 180 feet; the other buildings will be a single story.
The presentation will be given by Josh Harris, who serves as the Vice President of Public Engagement for the Obama Foundation where he oversees community engagement and government affairs, Chicago programs, and is charged with implementing a Chicago plan to advance youth outcomes and expand economic opportunity ahead of the Obama Presidential Center opening.
This program will be recorded and a link will be sent to all registrants. The link will remain live for seven days following the program.
Co-sponsored by Glessner House, Quinn Chapel AME Church, Friends of Historic Second Church, and Second Presbyterian Church.
Free admission, but registration is required.
All ticket sales are final; no refunds or exchanges.