ABONGO (ROY) OBAMA

'Certainly the older brother'

The way Barack Obama describes his oldest half-brother in his book, Abongo (Roy) Obama inherited their father's hard-drinking ways but straightened his life out by embracing Islam and his African heritage.

Abongo Obama began using his Luo tribal first name and had sworn off pork, smoking and drinking by the time of his younger brother's 1992 wedding.

"Abongo's new lifestyle has left him lean and clear-eyed, and at the wedding, he looked so dignified in his black African gown with white trim and matching cap that some of our guests mistook him for my father," Obama wrote in Dreams From My Father.

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In this Obama Family photo are: (bottom row, from left) half-sister Auma, her mother Kezia Obama, Obama's step-grandmother Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama and unknown; (top row, from left) unknown, Barack Obama, half-brother Abongo (Roy) Obama, and three unknowns.
(Courtesy of the Obama Family)

An accountant, Abongo Obama also argued that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture," Obama wrote. "But the magic of his laughter remains, and we can disagree without rancor."