Moments that make you cry,

ATLANTA (AP) -- Standing in line to cast his ballot for Barack Obama, Andrew Young was told to wait outside until he was called. And for a moment, he froze.

Years ago, in the Jim Crow South, Young spent his youth teaching blacks how to read and write so they could pass frivolous literacy tests meant to keep them from voting. The innocent instructions of an elections clerk on Thursday set off a flashback.

''It almost felt like that was Selma again,'' and his days alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the front lines of the struggle for voting and civil rights for black Americans, Young said.

''When you'd go to register in Selma, they'd tell you that you couldn't come into the courthouse, to stand in line,'' he said. ''And they'd just let you stand outside all day long.''

For Young, the moment passed quickly this time. As his name was called, Young walked stiffly toward the voting machines, waving and shaking hands with others waiting in line, their eyes twinkling with recognition and pride. As he approached the machine, a poll worker whispered, ''Who is that?''

It's Andrew Young, he was told. The worker grinned and nodded. ''That's great,'' he said, recognizing the name of the civil rights movement veteran who went on to Congress, the United Nations and the mayor's office in City Hall.

Six minutes later, Young emerged smiling, an ''I'm a Georgia voter'' sticker proudly displayed on his blue blazer.

It was the 12th time he'd voted for his friend and ally in the struggle to end segregation, Rep. John Lewis. It was the 11th time that he voted for president of the United States.

And it was the first time his vote might actually help elect a black man to the position.

Young and his civil rights contemporaries ''never thought that this would even be possible in our lifetime,'' he said. ''We didn't think it was going to go this fast, that it would probably be our children's children that had those kinds of opportunities.''