Becoming

Michelle and Barack get serious quickly, and she soon develops strong feelings for him. Michelle realizes that Barack is a big thinker, fixating on “big and abstract issues, fueled by some crazy sense that he might be able to do something about them” (112). Worried about propriety, Michelle and Barack keep their relationship under wraps, though several people at work seem to know and approve. Michelle briefly introduces Barack to her family, who like him, though Fraser thinks Barack—like the rest of Michelle’s boyfriends—won’t last long.

Barack gets asked to run a community organizing event by one of his former colleagues in a small church in the South Side. Michelle knows Barack has his work cut out in convincing these types of women, who have dealt with so much oppression and disadvantage in their lives, that change is possible. However, Barack has one advantage: “He was used to having to prove himself, pretty much anywhere he went” (116). Barack returns to law school in the fall, and he and Michelle navigate the long-distance.

Michelle joins the recruitment team for the law firm and sees the dynamics of privilege at play firsthand; as a result, she strives to get the firm to hire people outside of their usual pool of candidates.