How do many African Americans feel about Barack Obama's victory? (reading challenge)

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., celebrates at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, as election results roll in Tuesday. Lewis said he was hardly able to believe that more than 40 years after he was left beaten and bloody on Pettus bridge, he had voted for a victorious Obama. (Michael A. Schwarz, USA TODAY)


Racial Significance of Vote Looms Large for Many at Polls

RICHMOND, Va. -- Wesley Carter, 101 years old and an African-American, rose at 5:15 in the morning and drove to his polling place, where the line was already two blocks long. It started to rain. He opened the seat built into his cane, sat down and waited.

"I'm the oldest thing around here, and I never believed I'd see a black man as president in my lifetime," said Mr. Carter, a retired educator. "It's Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream coming true."

read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122585855323600509.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


African Americans dream of future achievements

Across the Bay Area and beyond, African Americans awoke Wednesday with a sense of empowerment and possibility: The historic election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States inspired a feeling that, with work, perhaps other undreamed-of social transformations could also be possible.

At a packed two-hour service at Allen Temple Baptist Church, one of Oakland's most influential black churches, between song and prayer, community leaders exhorted the hundreds of people assembled to become active participants in improving their own lives and communities.

read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/05/BAIV13USV3.DTL


For many, a sense that a new era is here

The day was a long time coming, and when Wednesday finally dawned, a lot of bleary-eyed, partied-out Americans had to pinch themselves: They had an African-American president-elect.

It was no dream, but many felt as if they were living one.

"This was Dr. King's dream — to have someone in the black community to represent us, and bring the races together," said Taylor Rogers, 82, a retired Memphis sanitation worker who in 1968 heard Martin Luther King Jr. speak the night before he was killed.

read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-11-05-obamamoment_N.htm


Local blacks revel

Sierra Sangetti-Daniels, 13, went to school Wednesday with ``Obama'' written on her face.

While at the bus stop Wednesday morning, she said, she and about five other girls were so excited by the presidential election results that they took liquid eyeliner and wrote ``Obama'' across their forehead or cheeks.

Diandra, her twin sister, said wanted to note the historic event and wrote his name across her forehead.

The 13-year-old eighth-graders, both from Oneonta, and other local black residents agreed that electing a black president was only a matter of time, but it happened sooner than they expected.

read more: http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_311040017.html


Older blacks see election as sign of progress

Bailey woke up Wednesday morning able to tell his son something he could never say before with complete confidence.

Thanks to the election of Barack Obama on Tuesday evening as president of the United States, Bailey could tell his 11-year-old black son that he, too, could be president one day.

"I told him, 'you can be anything that you want to be that you're willing to work for. I couldn't have told you that and been honest about that yesterday,'" he said. "(Tuesday) proved that America has done a metamorphosis. The America I knew in 1968 does not exist."

read more: http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20081106/NEWS01/811060391/1002


Rights leaders didn't think they'd see The Day

Tuskegee attorney Fred Gray, who bailed Rosa Parks out of jail during the Montgomery Bus Boycott more than 50 years ago, never thought he'd see an African American elected president.

"What we did in the civil rights movement is directly responsible for what's happening in the presidential campaign," Gray said. "But I did not expect to see an African American in my lifetime become president of the United States. It was not something I conceived of."

read more: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20081106/NEWS02/811060327


‘This is a new time:' Local blacks respond to historic Obama win

ASHEVILLE – Growing up in Washington, D.C., in the midst of segregation and the civil rights movement, Beatrice Brown never thought she would live to see an African-American elected president of the U.S.

On Tuesday, the day she thought would never happen came.

“I grew up when our country was living and experiencing institutionalized racism, the American apartheid,” said Brown, 61, a freelance writer. “I know racism is deep. It's engrained, and many Americans are conditioned to see black people and other people of color as lesser than (them).

read more: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811060339


Black SC college students rejoice Barack Obama win

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- For Precious Samuel, Barack Obama's victory represents more than just a historic moment in American history. It's also a personal victory for the Benedict College student.

"We proved everyone wrong," the 21-year-old senior from Philadelphia said Wednesday, her eyes sparkling despite long hours and sleepless nights spent shepherding the Obama campaign at this historically black college for the past two years. "When you cast that vote for Barack Obama, you cast a vote for yourself."

read more: http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/579793.html


For minorities, Obama presidency spurs sense of pride

Charlotte Durante woke up in a different America on Wednesday.

Durante, elected Delray Beach's first black commissioner in 1978, remembered a time in Alabama when blacks couldn't vote, drank from separate water fountains, and the idea of a black president was so remote it seemed impossible.

Tuesday, Barack Obama broke that barrier, but his victory signaled a new day for more than just blacks.

"It didn't cross our minds," she said. "We didn't have any idea that there would be a black president who represents all of America and speaks to all of America."

read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbprezreact1106sbnov06,0,5996327.story


African Americans React With Tears, Pride to Obama Victory

Millions of Americans of all races, colors and ethnic groups are celebrating Barack Obama's presidential victory. But for many African Americans who grew up experiencing discrimination and prejudice, the election of the first African American president is an overwhelming event they never thought they would see in their lifetimes.

After hearing the news of Mr. Obama's victory, many African Americans across the country danced in the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill in some places. In Washington, D.C., hundreds of residents gathered outside the White House, banging on drums and chanting "Bush is gone!" There were similar scenes in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York City.

read more: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-11-05-voa77.cfm


Black Milwaukeeans celebrate

Forty-one years ago, riots ripped through Milwaukee, deepening fault lines between the city's black and white residents.

But Tuesday night, as Barack Obama became the first African-American president-elect, black Milwaukeeans expressed a belief that the nation and the city had reached a new understanding of race and power.

read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/president/33875884.html


African-Americans' Reaction To Obama's Victory

Annie Abrams of Little Rock is a walking historian.

"I've been there with Bishop Tutu with Mandela's children. I've been there with Jessie when he hadn't decided to run for President. I know who I am," explains Abrams.

Pictures show her working alongside many of America's most famous civil rights leaders. Now she witnesses the election of Barack Obama, America's first black president.

"When I come here and I look at this, this morning I knew we were are near the top of the stairs for America," says Abrams while holding a newspaper with the headline 'Obama Triumphs.'

read more: http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=75154&catid=2


African Americans Reflect on How Far America's Come

DUNBAR -- African Americans across the region took a moment to celebrate in the name of Obama.

At Wednesday night's bible study at Ferguson Baptist Church, parishioners were overwhelmed with Barack Obama's election to President.

13 News sat down with several women, who flashed back 40 years, and shared with us how different America is today.

"When you went to the theatres you had to sit in the back because we were black. You were treated like a second class citizen," remembered Armelia Pannell.

"All day long I just keep thinking to myself did this really happen? But it did. And it's real," said Mary Williams.

read: http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=46551


http://media.jsonline.com/images/hist+110508.jpg
Retired Milwaukee school teacher Dorothy Eason celebrates Tuesday at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society after President-elect Barack Obama takes the stage to address the nation. (photo- Mark Hoffman)

I'm to cynical or something. but I'd rather wait and see how the man governs before I go and get all excited. kwame kilpatrick didn't turn out so good, and just as much progress as barack has made he could set us back just as quick.

What I'm happy for is the election system seems to have worked, it took a lot to get it to work, but it work no the less. and oh yeah no palin or smug ass repugs grinning for the next 4 years.

There are the appointments in Justice, Defense, etc., and there will be important cabinet assignments. There will be, of course, legislative initiatives and executive decisions.

There is also the question of leadership and inspiration from the WH which we've become cynical about in the face of a corrupt and uninspiring host.

But, many reactions to Obama which center on his race come with a full understanding of the measure and quality of the man - along with the very valid realization that at least this milestone has been reached; sooner than many folks dared to imagine.

The most profound reactions that I've seen have come from the older and the younger people of color. The older folks have been consciously and unconsciously working a lifetime to effect the advancement of one of their myriads of qualified and capable peers to the highest office in the land. It has, indisputably, been the one barrier left which had defied most other advancements made by blacks since the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.

There is certainly much to tackle and accomplish, but the most salient reaction from folks I've encountered (I hope reflected in the articles I've provided) has been their relief and gratitude that this milestone has been met. In this mostly unexpected moment, there is hope and belief . . . in ourselves, in our own potential to effect change with the power of our participation. That hasn't been universally accepted in the past. That infusion, explosion of hope and belief from the African American community is, perhaps, the most important accomplishment of the election of Barack Obama. That sentiment will be important in rallying Americans to the causes that you and everyone else are concerned about effecting into action and law.

'Thanks to the election of Barack Obama on Tuesday evening as president of the United States, Bailey could tell his 11-year-old black son that he, too, could be president one day.

"I told him, 'you can be anything that you want to be that you're willing to work for. I couldn't have told you that and been honest about that yesterday,'" he said. "(Tuesday) proved that America has done a metamorphosis. The America I knew in 1968 does not exist."'

I am happy for all the children in America. Millions can now see themselves as having the potential to be President; I don't think that was possible before.

. . . among the folks I've spoken with.