Dreams from My Father

Chapter 13 & 14

Discussion Questions

What did you learn about Obama from reading these chapters? What was of most interest to you? What do you need more information about? What, if anything, was confusing to you?
Chapter 13 begins by embedding Johnnie’s story within Obama’s larger story about an after-dinner walk in Hyde Park. What general point do you think Obama wants to make by linking these two stories together? Why does the chapter begin with Johnnie’s exclamation: “I’m telling you, man, the world is a place!” (p. 249)
What does Obama decide to take on as his next organizing project? Why do you think he is motivated take on this project? Take a careful look at the stories he tells throughout Chapter 13 to see if you can find patterns and clues to his motivations.
What decision has Obama made in Chapter 14? Why has he made this decision? To whom has he decided to disclose this decision and what is this person’s response? What are the similarities and differences that you see between this response and the reasons that Obama gives for making this decision?
What does Obama experience through his encounters with Reverend Wright? Do you see a relationship between the changes in Chicago city government and Obama’s experiences with religion and spirituality at the end of the Chapter 14? Why or why not?

Cultural and Historical References
	Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. – p. 274 Pastor of the Trinity Baptist Church in Chicago, (1941 - ), Jeremiah Wright became a controversial figure in the 2008 presidential campaign.
	Paul Tillich – p. 282 A Christian theologian (1888-1965), Paul Tillich’s work on revelation and human existence influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
	Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr – p. 282 Both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Jeremiah Wright studied and were influenced by the writings of Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr, a Protestant theologian (1892-1971), who focused on the relationship of Christian faith to modern politics and diplomacy.
	Sharpsville – p. 293 Police fired on a crowd of 300 people protesting apartheid-era racially biased pass laws, wounding 180 and killing 69 on March 21, 1960 in the Sharpeville, South Africa massacre.
	Hiroshima, Japan – p. 293 On August 6, 1945, at the end of World War II, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a densely populated city in Japan.