Former United States President Barack Obama comes to Glasgow for a rare live conversation at the OVO Hydro.
The evening will see Obama reflect on leadership, democracy, change and the challenges facing America and the wider world, as the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence.
Obama’s place in Black history is extraordinary.
When he won the 2008 presidential election, he became the first African American elected President of the United States, serving as the country’s 44th president for two terms from 2009 to 2017.
The symbolism of that election reached far beyond American politics.
It came only decades after the Civil Rights Movement had fought against segregation and systematic barriers preventing African Americans from voting freely, accessing education and participating equally in American public life.
Obama’s own story also connected several strands of the Black experience.
Born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and an American mother, he later worked as a community organiser in Chicago, became a civil rights attorney and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review before entering elected politics.
Since leaving the White House, his work through the Obama Foundation has focused heavily on developing the next generation of leaders and encouraging civic participation.
The Glasgow appearance therefore offers far more than an opportunity to hear from a former world leader.
Taking place in the middle of Black History Month, it provides a chance to reflect on a presidency that represented a landmark moment in African American history while hearing Obama’s perspective on the political and social questions shaping the present.
For Glasgow, this is likely to be one of the largest and most high-profile Black History Month-related events taking place in Scotland in October 2026.
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