Until now it has been the stuff of fiction. But on Wednesday, Americans reckoned with the reality: A black man is now a major party's candidate for president.
"I never thought I'd live to see this day," said retired pharmacist Arthur Dees, 80, marveling at Barack Obama's triumph. Dees, an Army veteran, recalled that he attended Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration in 1953, but was not welcome in any downtown Washington hotel or restaurant.
"They were all segregated," he said, as he shopped at a mall in Wheaton, Md., a blue-collar community 12 miles north of the White House. Fighting back tears, he added, "My people have always had doggone names. We were darkies. Then colored. Next they called us Negroes. After that, we were black. Now, we're Afro-Americans. But with Obama, we're going to be just Americans. Won't that be something!"
From a shopping mall in the San Gabriel Valley to a hair salon in Denver and the bustling sidewalks of Lower Manhattan, people of all political, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds expressed excitement, pride, hope, relief and caution as they considered the implications of the 46-year-old Obama's historic achievement as the Democrats' likely presidential nominee.
Under gray skies at the Seattle Ferry Terminal, commuters heading home hurried toward seats on the green and white ferries. They streamed past news racks displaying banner headlines. "Obama: This is our moment," read the Seattle Times.
John Trapp, a 46-year-old white home builder from Poulsbo, Wash., echoed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous line when he said he hoped the country was "beyond race" and would judge Obama "by the content of his character." He was dubious though.
"Some people will vote for him because he is black and some will not vote for him because he is," said Trapp, who is more excited about Obama's age than his race. After all, he said, "he's the first person of my generation" to be a major party nominee.
Chelsea Baker, 18, waited to catch a ferry to Bainbridge Island after leaving her Seattle restaurant hostess job. Like millions of other young adults, she was inspired by Obama to register to vote and attend her first political events.
She's heard racist comments and knows the sentiment is out there. "I'm a little worried," said Baker, who is white. "But you'd like to think we've moved on."
