History is measured in laws passed, doors opened, and systems changed. Here are eight structural shifts during the Obama years that moved the line for Black America.
The Affordable Care Act
Before the ACA, more than 20% of Black Americans were uninsured. By the time Obama left office, that number had been cut nearly in half, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Millions of people could finally see a doctor, get a prescription filled, or take their child to the emergency room without losing everything.
The law expanded Medicaid eligibility, making coverage available to low-income individuals who had been completely shut out, many of them Black. It required insurance plans to cover preventive services at no cost. And it strengthened minority health offices across HHS agencies and formally established the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH to specifically address racial disparities in health outcomes.
The Fair Sentencing Act
Crack and powder cocaine are the same substance, but the sentences weren’t the same. For decades, five grams of crack carried the same mandatory five-year sentence as 500 grams of powder. In 2010, Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, reducing the 100-to-1 disparity to 18-to-1. It wasn’t full parity as advocates pushed for 1-to-1, but it was the first time in a generation that the federal government acknowledged the policy was unjust and moved to change it.
Obama also became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, commuted the sentences of more than 1,100 people, mostly for nonviolent drug offenses, and left office with a lower federal prison population than when he entered.
My Brother’s Keeper
Launched in 2014, My Brother’s Keeper was the first White House initiative specifically focused on boys and young men of color.
It was a dedicated effort to address the opportunity gaps, with nearly 250 communities in all 50 states accepting the challenge. According to the Obama Foundation, private organizations committed over $1 billion in grants and financing. Mentoring programs, job training, college readiness, all of it targeted at the young men America was most likely to overlook. After Obama left office, MBK became a permanent program of the Obama Foundation. In 2024, it marked its 10th anniversary and continues to serve communities across the country.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
Black people tried to get a museum on the National Mall since 1915, when African American Civil War veterans first proposed it. It took 101 years.
Obama broke ground in 2012 and opened the museum on September 24, 2016, ringing the Freedom Bell alongside 99-year-old Ruth Bonner, whose father had been born into slavery. Four generations of her family stood with her.
The NMAAHC houses over 40,000 artifacts and drew 2.4 million visitors in its first year. Harriet Tubman’s possessions. Emmett Till’s original casket. A slave cabin from Edisto Island, South Carolina. Chuck Berry’s Cadillac. It took a century to build, but now it’s there. And it’s permanent.
HBCU Funding at Record Levels
Obama strengthened the White House Initiative on HBCUs and secured long-term federal funding commitments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. During his administration, Pell Grant funding for students at HBCUs grew from $523 million to $824 million.
Federal Oversight of Police
The Obama administration opened investigations into police departments in Ferguson, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Chicago. They resulted in consent decrees requiring systemic reforms. Obama established a Task Force on 21st Century Policing and rolled back the transfer of military equipment to local departments, a direct response to tanks rolling through Ferguson. The federal government finally acted on what Black communities had been saying for generations.
Black Unemployment Cut Nearly in Half
When Obama took office, the country was hemorrhaging jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black unemployment hit 16.8% by March 2010. By the time he left, that number had been cut nearly in half, and the economy had added jobs for 75 consecutive months — the longest streak in American history at the time. The gains weren’t evenly distributed, and the wealth gap remained wide. But the trajectory was undeniable.
Representation at Every Level
This one doesn’t have a bill number, but it might matter more than the others.
Obama appointed Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch as the first and second Black Attorneys General. He nominated more Black federal judges than any president before him. He put Black leaders in positions of power across every federal agency. And for eight years, Black children saw themselves reflected in the most powerful office in the world. That didn’t fix systemic racism. But it reset the ceiling for an entire generation.
These wins are forever a part of our story, and they’re worth celebrating and remembering.
