Before Michelle Obama, there was Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Barack Obama’s long-time academic girlfriend. Sheila, now 61, is a historian, author, and professor at Oberlin College, specializing in East Asian studies. With a Dutch and Japanese heritage, Sheila earned her PhD from the University of Chicago and has contributed significantly to the field, particularly in Korean history.
Barack and Sheila’s relationship, which reportedly began in the mid-1980s, was not publicly known until the release of David J. Garrow’s biography Rising Star in 2017. They lived together for several years, but their relationship faced significant challenges. Sheila revealed in the biography that, in the winter of 1986, Barack proposed to her during a visit to her parents, but her parents objected, citing their differing future goals. Despite this, they stayed together, but things became strained once Barack was accepted to Harvard Law School, and Sheila was set to study abroad in South Korea. Tensions also arose from their differing views on race relations in politics.
At 25, Barack proposed again to Sheila in an attempt to keep their relationship intact, but she turned him down once more due to their ideological differences. By 1991, their communication had dwindled as Barack’s relationship with Michelle Robinson, his future wife, blossomed. Barack and Sheila remained in touch for a time, but their bond finally ended when Barack married Michelle in 1992.
Sheila, who now leads the East Asian Studies department at Oberlin College, is married to Jiyul Kim, a fellow instructor and U.S. Army veteran. They have three children together. Sheila continues to work in academia and recently received the Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History for her book The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia.
