Prescient ‘First Black President’ Still Trying to Steer Youth in Positive Direction - Higher Education: A quarter-century before Barack Hussein Obama was elected as president, he was portrayed by Dennis Rahiim Watson on college campuses across the country. Watson didn’t know the genuine equivalent to his one-man show ― “The First Black President of the United States” ― would become a reality within his lifetime. But he understood the importance of inspiring students to think and act in a manner that could lead them to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.
“It seems like yesterday,” said Watson, a motivational speaker/activist who helped turn out the youth vote for Obama in 2012 and 2008. “The show included a mock press conference with the audience asking the president about domestic and foreign policy. Howard University was one of the first major institutions that brought me on campus. As a result of the response I got there, I’ve spoken at more than 200 universities and been known as ‘The First Black President’ for 30 years.”
