‘You Are America’ Lettering Installed at Obama Presidential Center
The first of several concrete panels containing the words from an Obama 2015 speech were installed days before Christmas. The center is slated to open in June 2026.
Days before Christmas, construction workers at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago began the installation of the concrete lettering that will make up the 2015 speech “You Are America” that will wrap the top south and west corners of the 225-foot-tall, granite museum on the city’s South Side campus.
The speech—given on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama—honors the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches. Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the building’s words are cast into custom panels with each letter standing five feet tall, according to a press release from the Center.
The words are an invitation to harness the energy of the surrounding 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 release said.
The text reads:
“You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, and ready to seize what ought to be. Everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed.
“America is not the project of any one person. 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.”
Slated to open in June 2026, the Center is situated on a 19-acre campus that will feature a fruit and vegetable garden; an athletic, programs, and events facility; a world-class museum; an auditorium; a branch of the Chicago Public Library; and more. Additional programming will also invite visitors—whether they’re coming from down the block or across the globe—to bring change home.
Chicago is where former First Lady Michelle Obama was raised and where former President Barack Obama got his start as a community organizer. It’s where they met and built their family.
“To me this doesn’t feel so much like building something new,” Mrs. Obama said in a promotion on social media last month. “It feels like we’re helping reveal what has always been here.”
The monumental panels required extraordinary attention to detail. Each panel measures between 20 to 30 feet tall and 9 to 15 feet wide, weighing from 11,000 to 20,000 pounds, with a depth of one foot. The panels feature the typeface Gotham, originally used during Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign.
The exterior of the museum building where the lettering is being installed was designed to look like four hands coming together. Inside, the museum will feature four stories of exhibits showcasing important moments during the Obama administration, memorabilia from his campaigns and stories from inside the White House.
The top floor of the museum building is the Sky Room where visitors can take in views of Lake Michigan, Jackson Park and the Museum of Science and Industry. On top of the a new branch of the Chicago Public Library will be the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden, a community-centered space that was named after one of the country’s most beloved first ladies, according to the Center’s website.
The exterior also features a one-of-a-kind glass art installation by Julie Mehretu, entitled “Uprising Sun.”
Installation of the lettering will continue over approximately six weeks.
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