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What was Michelle Obama's undergraduate major at Princeton University?
Executive summary
Michelle Obama graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and a minor in African-American studies; her 99‑page senior thesis was titled “Princeton‑Educated Blacks and the Black Community” [1] [2]. University archives and Princeton alumni reporting confirm her Class of 1985 status and campus activities, while multiple profiles and interviews recount her academic and personal experience there [3] [4] [5].
1. What she majored in — the basic fact
Michelle Obama earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology at Princeton and minored in African‑American studies, graduating cum laude in 1985; her senior thesis focused on how Princeton‑educated Black alumni related to Black communities [1] [2].
2. Primary sources and institutional confirmation
Princeton’s own materials and archives note she is a member of the Class of 1985 and preserve photographs and records from her undergraduate years; the university’s public materials explicitly state her major and minor and reference her senior thesis topic [3] [4] [2].
3. How this detail has been reported and repeated
Biographical entries (including widely used encyclopedia and library profiles) and news profiles consistently list sociology as her undergraduate major and African‑American studies as her minor, making this a firmly established element of her public biography cited across multiple outlets [1] [2].
4. Context from her own accounts and interviews
In memoir excerpts and interviews reported by outlets such as Business Insider and CBS, Michelle Obama describes her Princeton admission and undergraduate experience — including feeling heightened awareness of race on campus — which provides context for the subject matter of her senior thesis and choice of minor [6] [7].
5. Why her major and thesis matter to public perception
Her sociology major and a thesis about Princeton‑educated Black alumni feed into later public narratives about race, education, and leadership that she has discussed as First Lady and in her memoir; conservative and liberal commentators have used her academic background in different ways to either critique or defend her commentary on race and opportunity [8] [9].
6. Competing viewpoints and controversy in coverage
Some opinion pieces question whether affirmative‑action claims or other political framings should affect how we read her Princeton record; those critiques often focus on her admissions story or interpret her thesis and public statements through a political lens, while institutional records and mainstream biographies treat her major and thesis as straightforward academic facts [8] [10] [1].
7. Limits of the available reporting
Public reporting and Princeton’s archived materials confirm degree, major, minor, thesis title and class year, but detailed academic files (transcripts, application materials) remain closed to the public during her lifetime, so granular claims about grades beyond official statements (e.g., “cum laude”) or course‑by‑course performance are not publicly accessible [3].
8. Practical takeaway for your question
If you need a concise citation: Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton in 1985 with a B.A. in sociology and a minor in African‑American studies; her senior thesis examined "Princeton‑Educated Blacks and the Black Community" [1] [2]. Available sources do not mention any contradictory academic major in current reporting [1] [2].
Sources cited: Princeton University Archives and alumni pages, Michelle Obama biographical profiles, and mainstream reporting [3] [4] [1] [2] [6] [7] [8].