CHICAGO (CN) – Nearly a century and a half after millions flocked to Chicago’s Jackson Park for the World’s Fair, crowds gathered on the park’s marshland Friday afternoon to celebrate a new presidential library.
After years of fundraising and construction delays, former President Barack Obama officially opened his presidential library and museum to the public in June, although the opening ceremony was held a day earlier at John Lewis Plaza.
The civil rights icon is named after the Barack Obama Presidential Center, located at the intersection of Stony Island Avenue and 60th Street.
The former president claimed in his speech at Thursday’s opening ceremony that his presidential center was about “finding a way to turn back to each other, not further away.”
“We wanted it to be a lively, lively, community celebration where we can learn together and share the joys of art, music, sports and play, because it is in those moments that will remind them of our common humanity and strengthen the bonds of faith that not only make our lives richer, but also make our democracy stronger,” the former president said in his speech.
The focus to come together was the perspective that many people brought to the center’s first day of operation, including Kay Jernigan, who took a bus with 55 other people from Mississippi to see the new presidential center. She said only a few people from her group were able to get tickets to go inside the museum because the tickets were sold out.
Tickets to the Barack Obama Presidential Center are sold out through Nov. 30, but when they become available again, the general admission cost is $30 for adults and $26 for adults who are Illinois residents.
Jernigan, a Broadview native, said it wasn’t much of a problem because the facility sits on 19.3 acres of historic Jackson Park, which the Obama foundation further developed for the center. The museum itself is ticketed, but the space also features a public library, a playground, a community garden, and an indoor basketball court.
She said she appreciated how the center was built into the already existing Jackson Park, but expressed disappointment at how quickly tickets sold out online and the line grew outside the center Friday morning. Jenigan noted that the crowds were more patient because it was June 19, but joked that when she returns in the fall, she won’t be so patient.
In addition to visitors, the people who worked on the center’s development reiterated that its ethos was people power.
Catherine Hoffman, a producer who worked on a film shown at the museum, said they focused on many of the former president’s political achievements and the ordinary Americans who inspired him.
Hoffman, a producer with Digifé, a black-owned production company in Chicago, said the focus on ordinary people is evident not only from the films but also from the museum itself.
“Because the museum, it doesn’t start with the birth of Barack Obama. It starts with the birth of the nation, and it starts with the Constitution and it’s locked in contradictions, and then the museum moves the stories of all the people,” Hoffman said. “Basically, all the people who made sure we the people meant all the people.”
Activists Nerima Wako and Tessza Udvarhelyi, who both traveled to speak on a panel on global democracy at the presidential center, echoed Hoffman’s characterization of the museum.
Wako, who traveled to Chicago from Nairobi, Kenya, said it was an emotional experience to see so many people gather for the opening in June. She said she felt like she was at home in Africa after noticing a woman walking through Jackson Park carrying a Kenyan kiondo basket.
“It was a breath of fresh air for me,” she told Courthouse News, talking about the center and its opening ceremony the day before. “Just to see people as people, not ‘oh I’m a former leader,’ and just that vulnerability for me is what I really liked about both of (Barack and Michelle Obama’s) speeches.”
Turkish activist Udvarhelyi emphasized Wako’s perspective, but noted that she was resistant to giving the facility her full approval after hearing about some neighborhood resistance to the development from a friend who lives in the area.
“Apparently they needed it,” Udvarhely said. “I love that it’s a public space. I mean, it’s full of public services, so it’s basically not a private, exclusive thing. We went to the playground, which is amazing.”
While a popular attraction at the museum will almost certainly be the former first lady’s gown gallery, Udvarhely said she hopes the museum can make people fall in love with politics and the democratic process again.
In addition to the Obama family, Thursday’s opening ceremony featured celebrities ranging from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks — with musical performances from The Roots, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and others — to politicians like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and even former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Three former presidents — Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — and their spouses, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat next to the Obama family on stage behind a Plexiglas ballistic shield.
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