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This poem by Sandra Juanita Nailing talks about bringing people together to help bring about peace, kindness, and prosperity for all individuals. Similar to Michelle Obama, she opens her arms to the world and wishes for them to accept the advice that she offers. In Michelle Obama's memoir, she mentions, "Let's invite one another in ... maybe we can embrace the ways we are the same." The poem, in addition to Michelle Obama's personal input on what she believes will help make the world a better place, help answer the essential question: what impact does the way that a story is written have? By concentrating on expanding the goodness and resources that the world has to offer, the positive energy that both authors exhibit work to encourage others to do just the same

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It's time to bring people together, so unity can abound. It's time to stop fighting, and stop pulling one another down.
It's time to bring people together, so we can walk into the light. So far, some choose to walk in darkness, not doing what they know is right.
It's time to bring people together, whether they are young or old. In order to do this, don't be afraid, but bold.
It's time to bring people together, so we can bring about peace. We are able to get this done, so never let it cease.
It's time to bring people together, and once again wear a smile. We are able to get this accomplished, by going the extra mile.
By, Sandra Juanita Nailing

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Bringing People Together by Sandra Juanita Nailing

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It's time to bring people together, so unity can abound. It's time to stop fighting, and stop pulling one another down.It's time to bring people together, so we can walk into the light. So far, some choose to walk in darkness, not doing what they know is right.It's time to bring people together, whether they are young or old.

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The poem "Mother to Son" is very similar to Michelle Obama's book in the way that it encourages the "son" or younger generation to keep moving despite the challenges that one may face throughout their journey in life. The Mother in the poem recounts her experiences of being in the dark, climbing, and turning corners. She has been up and down the steps, and uses her own story to impact her son in a positive manner by encouraging him to persevere through life's hardships. This is important to my study because it further emphasizes Michelle Obama's point of "becoming", or in other words, evolving and continuously reaching for a better step. The end goal of both works is to state that the journey never ends, so you should never lose hope.

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By Langston Hughes more Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor-
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now-
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

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Langston Hughes was a prominent writer during the Harlem Renaissance. In this poem, a mother uses the metaphor of life being like a staircase to give advice to her son. While there are difficult times, you must keep moving like you would while walking up a staircase.

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The artist of Michelle Obama's portraits is known for featuring evidence of powerful black figures, in which they are "creatures of fashion who stand uptight against backdrops of pastel monochrome." The dress's clean and minimal print is a symbol of Michelle Obama's forward thinking. This is important to my book because the well-known artist of the painting, Amy Sherald, shares her perspective on Michelle Obama's impact in society and our world today. Her figure stands out and strengthens her liability by encouraging viewers to wonder who the woman in the painting is, and what her message to the world is.

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Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama stand next to their newly unveiled portraits during a ceremony Monday at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama stand next to their newly unveiled portraits during a ceremony Monday at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Brand new portraits of former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama — wearing matching calm, strong expressions — were revealed on Monday at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Kehinde Wiley painted Barack Obama sitting in a chair, elbows in his knees, leaning forward with an intense expression. The background, typical of a Wiley painting, is a riotous pattern of intense green foliage.

"Pretty sharp," Obama said with a grin.

Amy Sherald, a Baltimore-based artist, painted Michelle Obama sitting in a floor-length gown, chin on her hand, looking directly at the viewer with a calm, level gaze.

Celebrities from Shonda Rimes to Steven Spielberg, former administration officials from Josh Earnest to Eric Holder, and members of the media filed into the Portrait Gallery's expansive, glass-covered central courtyard for the ceremony. Kim Sajet, the director of the gallery, told the audience that a portrait was not truly finished until a viewer, a member of the public, had a personal encounter with it.

Then came the unveiling — quite literally, as fabric covers were pulled off the portraits on a small stage.

The paintings exemplify the two artists' trademark styles.

Barack Obama gazes at his wife's newly unveiled portrait on Monday. The painting of Michelle Obama will be on display through November in the National Portrait Gallery's "Recent Acquisitions" section. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Barack Obama gazes at his wife's newly unveiled portrait on Monday. The painting of Michelle Obama will be on display through November in the National Portrait Gallery's "Recent Acquisitions" section.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

"Wiley typically portrays people of color posing as famous figures in Western art," the Portrait Gallery writes. "Through this practice, he challenges the visual rhetoric of power that is dominated by elite white men."

Barack Obama said he admired how Wiley's photos "challenge our conventional views of power and privilege."

But he said he rejected Wiley's ideas that involved him, for instance, riding a horse.

" 'I've got enough political problems without you making me look like Napoleon,' " he remembered telling Wiley. " 'You've got to bring it down a touch.' And that's what he did."

"How do you explain that a lot of that is just simply not true?" Wiley said, when he took to the lectern. Then he got more serious.

"The ability to be the first African-American painter to paint the first African-American president of the United States is absolutely overwhelming," Wiley said. "It doesn't get any better than that. I was humbled by this invitation but I was also inspired by Barack Obama's personal story."

Sherald, "known for her stylized, archetypal portrayals of African Americans," survived a heart transplant in 2012, the museum notes. "A personification of resilience herself, Sherald conveys the inner strength of her subjects through a combination of calm expressions and confrontational poses," the gallery writes.

"I am a little overwhelmed, to say the least," Michelle Obama said in a speech, after helping Sherald reveal her work. "As you may have guessed, I don't think there is anybody in my family who has ever had a portrait done, let alone a portrait that will be hanging in the National Gallery — at least as far as I know, Mom," she said. "But all those folks who helped me be here today, they are with us physically and they are with us in spirit."

"I'm also thinking of all the young people, particularly girls and girls of color, who ... will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American institution," she said. "I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because I was one of those girls."

It was a point Sherald echoed minutes later, when she emphasized that her portrait of Obama was conceptual and archetypal, bigger than just one model.

"You exist in our minds and our hearts in the way that you do because we can see ourselves in you," she said, turning toward Michelle Obama.

Obama stands between the portraits. His will be permanently installed in the "America's Presidents" exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Obama stands between the portraits. His will be permanently installed in the "America's Presidents" exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The National Portrait Gallery, a member of the Smithsonian Institution, has worked with outgoing presidents to commission a new portrait of each one since 1962.

More recently it began collecting portraits of first ladies as well. The National Portrait Gallery, a member of the Smithsonian Institution, writes:

"Official portraits are interesting beasts because they are, of course official: they signify the status and attainments of the person portrayed. But they also are deeply personal, even revelatory, portrayals that say something of the character of the man or woman who shows their face to the public. The style of the portrait – the pose, the colors, the setting, as well as facial features (in the 19th century stern and forbidding was definitely the default expression) – all convey a measure of the sitter."

The official National Portrait Gallery paintings of George and Laura Bush both featured relatively casual, relaxed poses, with small smiles.

The gallery's portrait of Bill Clinton, by Nelson Shanks, was controversial after Shanks said he'd hidden a reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the canvas. A different portrait of Clinton, a Chuck Close painting of the former president's grin, is on display in the museum.

The new paintings of the Obamas will be on view to the public beginning Tuesday.

Wiley's painting of former President Obama will be permanently installed in the "America's Presidents" exhibit (The Portrait Gallery has the "only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House," the museum said in a statement.)

Sherald's painting of Michelle Obama will be on display through November in the museum's "Recent Acquisitions" section.

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Paintings Of Barack And Michelle Obama Unveiled At Portrait Gallery

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Brand new portraits of former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama - wearing matching calm, strong expressions - were revealed on Monday at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Kehinde Wiley painted Barack Obama sitting in a chair, elbows in his knees, leaning forward with an intense expression.

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This motivational video talks about how no matter how much you get hit, you need to keep moving forward. Quitting lasts forever while pain is only temporary. The video highlights famous athletes who have done the unthinkable; "if you want something then you should go get it." This is important to the dynamic of my book because it provides insight on a universal experience that all humans face: being afraid to fail, and how that fear should not stop you from going after what you want. Through exploring the experiences of others and their time period, such as the athletes in the video and Michelle Obama, the realization of what it takes to become well-known is renewed in the reader's mind. Resilience and moving forward are the key essentials that you can count on to be remembered.

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0:00 / 6:13•Watch full video

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Keep moving forward - Motivational Video

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Brown v. Board of Education was decided on May 17, 1954 in order to establish that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, even if those segregated schools are given the same quality of education. The memoir that I am exploring relates to this source because it helps readers shape their understanding of history and of the world we live in today. Michelle Obama and her brother were raised by a mother who believed in quality education, and fought for them to be placed in more rigorous courses. Although they went to school in the 1970s, Brown v. Board of Education provided them with a school environment in which there was a more culturally diverse setting. It was one of the many stepping stones that allowed kids in Michelle Obama's situation to be given an education that was more equal for all. It is important to understand this history in order to be able to compare them to the laws in our education system today and how they advance the system even further.

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How Racially Diverse Schools and Classrooms Can Benefit All Students

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After decades in the political wilderness, school integration seems poised to make a serious comeback as an education reform strategy. Sixty-two years ago, Brown v. Board of Education held that separate schools for black and white students are inherently unequal.

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This speech presented by Michelle Obama serves to dive deeper into the question, "How does the way a person’s story is written and shared shape its impact?" While it may seem like she is different from the audience of students in the room, people often forget that well-known people are human too. Obama recalls that she never in her life would have thought that she would become the first African American First Lady of The United States. However, she stands in front of a young audience as a reliable source of reminding them that she did not grow up with infinite resources, and was a part of the working class. While the audience and speaker may seem like they are very far apart, Michelle Obama is a representation of a successful woman that broke the pre-existing stereotype surrounding women, and the prejudice that is still prevalent. The way that she shares her effort and advice on success, leaves an impact on younger generations of girls by reminding them that they are important and that they should never lose hope in their futures.

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Elizabeth G. Anderson School

Speaking to an audience of students, US First Lady Michelle Obama reminds each one to take their education seriously -- and never take it for granted. This new, brilliant generation, she tells us, is the one that could close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.

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Best of the Web

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This video is a TED "Best of the Web" pick, featuring a remarkable idea available on the internet from an independent creator. This idea didn’t come from TED, but TED is thrilled to spread it. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Speaking to an audience of students, US First Lady Michelle Obama reminds each one to take their education seriously -- and never take it for granted. This new, brilliant generation, she tells us, is the one that could close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.

culture

global issues

politics

education

women

Best of the Web

This video is a TED "Best of the Web" pick, featuring a remarkable idea available on the internet from an independent creator. This idea didn’t come from TED, but TED is thrilled to spread it. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

First Lady Michelle Obama, a lawyer and administrator, is an advocate for working parents and education for girls all around the world.

About Best of the Web

Best of the Web, like the rest of TED.com, involves compelling people and ideas. But unlike TED Talks, these videos don't come from TED or our partner conferences: they're curated from around the internet, drawing on freely available videos from creators with an idea worth spreading.

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A passionate, personal case for education

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Speaking to an audience of students, US First Lady Michelle Obama reminds each one to take their education seriously -- and never take it for granted. This new, brilliant generation, she tells us, is the one that could close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be.