#TBT: Obama Is The First President To Address The African Union

 

     Even with the loss of both houses of Congress, President Barack Obama set about making history in 2015, from supporting the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage to restoring relations with Cuba to negotiating the nuclear deal with Iran to instituting major environmental protections to pardoning thousands of reformed criminals to signing the Paris Climate Agreement and securing major investments in infrastructure and disease research.

     Foreign policy saw a pair of firsts: in 2016, Obama was the first president to visit Hiroshima, the sight of the only deployment of a nuclear weapon in world history. On July 28th, 2015, Obama, the first black president and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, made history as the first president to speak before the African Union as part of a trip that also saw him visit economic sites around Ethiopia and in his homeland of Kenya. In his address, Obama called for an end to child marriage, persecution of the LGBTQ, denying education to women and girls, corruption and dictatorship, and other issues plaguing the continent.

     These were far from empty words. He also touted his efforts with Somalia and Nigeria to combat terrorism, his assistance in deposing dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, his work to transition Ethiopia to a democracy, and his billions of dollars in funding to assist renewable energy, food security, and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts across the continent, as well as his numerous summits supporting African youth and entrepreneurs.