Michelle: Barack and I ‘Both Felt the Sting’ Racist ‘Daily Slights Throughout Our’ Lives

Michelle Obama: Race-Based Media Perception ‘Knocked Me Back’ (Mediaite)

At a speech to the 2015 class of Tuskegee University Saturday, First Lady Michelle Obama candidly discussed the role of race in the media’s treatment of her on the 2008 campaign trail, explaining that it challenged her to gain control over her public perception.

“As potentially the first African-American first lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations, conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others,” she said. “Was I too loud or too emasculating? Or was I too soft? Too much of a mom and not enough of a career woman?”