Sky Room

Take in panoramic views of Chicago from the Sky Room, the Museum’s culminating experience. This special place is free and open to the public and provides an unparalleled view of the places that made the Obamas. It is designed to be deeply contemplative and features iconic commissioned art installations by Idris Khan, Jenny Holzer and Carrie Mae Weems.
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“You Are America”

The exterior of the Sky Room features a quote from the speech that is closest to President Obama’s heart: his commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery. 

The words, etched onto the exterior of the Museum Building, are not just an homage to the past but a call to action for today. President Obama says: “I hope those words will now serve as a beacon—of courage and hope—not just for this community, but for the next generation of Americans looking to chart their own course.”

The letters for this unique installation were manufactured using Ultra-High Performance Concrete by Shaffner Heaney Associates/Envel, an experienced manufacturing firm based in South Bend, Ind. 

These Ultra-High Performance Concrete letters serve as a continuing invitation: to harness the energy of this community, elevate the voices of ordinary people, and ensure that the story of the Center is one in which South Side residents and visitors alike can see themselves as active participants in the “glorious task” of change . 

The legacy highlighted in “You Are America” will also be told through the exhibits and stories featured throughout the Museum. Learn more about these leaders on Level 2 of the Museum. 

Concrete is poured into molds used in the construction of the “You Are America” letters to be installed on the side of the Obama Presidential Center Museum at Shaffner Heaney .

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An upward shot of the installation of the “You Are America” letters on the side of the Obama Presidential Center Museum Building. It is gray outside.

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A close-up image of the letters of the “You Are America” installation from inside the Sky Room.

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A close-up image of the letters of the “You Are America” installation from the street. It is dark outside and the letters are illuminated from the Sky Room on the inside.

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President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia wait with former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush prior to the walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. There is a crowd of thousands of people behind them.

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An aerial rendering of the Obama Presidential Center Museum Building. It is daylight in the picture. Below the building are several green trees.

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“You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be…The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.”

-President Obama

An animation shows people ranging of all ages and skin tones, enjoying the outdoor amenities at the Obama Presidential Center

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