Janny Scott

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and this week, during which all eyes are on the accomplishments of the president, we look at his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. A teenage mother, she married and divorced twice, had two children, and eventually went on to earn a PhD and work in international development. New York Times writer Janny Scott has written a new, comprehensive biography of Dunham called “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother.”

Award-winning reporter Janny Scott talks about Stanley Ann Dunham, President Barack Obama’s mother. To write A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother, Scott interviewed nearly 200 of Dunham's friends, colleagues, and relatives (including both her children), and combed through boxes of personal and professional papers, letters to friends, and photo albums, to uncover the full breadth of this independent woman's inspiring and nontraditional life. Scott shows how Dunham shaped the man Obama is today.