History made, but questions of future

For many African-Americans, the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president meant a near completion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - Born in Bennettsville, S.C., during Jim Crow's heyday, Jessie McCrae has never been ashamed of her race, but she hasn't always been proud of her country. The bitter stories flow from her with little prompting: picking cotton from dawn to dusk; studying with worn secondhand schoolbooks at a segregated elementary school; the sting of trudging up to the "coloreds-only" balcony at the local movie house.

Yet the swearing-in of the nation's first black president, which McCrae watched with about 30 others on a jumbo TV at Washington's esteemed Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, has led McCrae to see America in a new light.

"It has changed my opinion of America," she said.

But not completely.

"There are so many things that can block us," McCrae said, arguing that lingering racism exists, voicing her own suspicions that she was overlooked for promotions during her career as a Washington civil servant because of her race.

"The system will never be totally fair," she said.

When Obama took the oath of office just after noon yesterday, African-Americans across the city said his ascension to the nation's highest office restores their faith in a nation that had enslaved and oppressed them, completing the dream outlined by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And while many believe America has taken a huge step toward racial equality, few believe that racial bias will disappear any time soon.

Lena Anderson, 61, a retired teacher from White Plains, N.Y., said Obama taking the oath of office places a spotlight on the often-underappreciated history of African-Americans: "Suddenly, we have a spotlight. He lifts up the shoulders of people he is standing on. It says everything about what America can and will be."

For decades, hard stereotypes about black Americans existed "because we were painted with a very broad, very negative brush," Anderson said.

"Now I think that brush is going to be a little more sophisticated" because Obama "is there, he's qualified, he's got the support" from white Americans as well as blacks.

Nevertheless, Obama's election "is just the beginning. So much damage has been done," she said. "Maybe things aren't totally fair, but it's on its way. Let's do our best, because now we all have a chance."

Recent polls confirm that Obama's election shows signs of eliciting a dramatic shift among African-Americans' attitudes toward race relations. According to the poll, roughly 7 of 10 African-Americans believe the new president fulfills King's dream, and 44 percent believe his election will usher in a new era in race relations, signs that African-Americans are hopeful for the future.

Even so, the nation's conflicted racial history seems to justify an undercurrent of cynicism.

Large parts of the nation - including the Capitol where Obama was sworn in and the White House in which he will reside - were built with slave labor. Obama himself alluded to slavery in his address, referring to those "who endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth."

The nation's troubled history of race relations includes cycles of incremental progress and soaring hopes, as well as heartbreaking disappointments and brutal violence. The emancipation of slaves was followed by decades of cruel oppression under Jim Crow, the system of legislated discrimination that denied blacks civil rights for a century after the Civil War.

And while King's activism led to sweeping changes in civil rights, his assassination effectively ended his nonviolent movement.

Though several skilled, qualified African-American politicians have run for president in recent decades, including New York Representative Shirley Chisholm in 1972, Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988, and Carol Moseley Braun in 2004, Obama is the first to become the nominee of a major political party, and the first to reach the White House.

After Obama was sworn in, Samuel Chatman, 42, stood outside St. John's Church across from the White House, where Obama and his family worshiped yesterday morning, documenting his visit on a camcorder.

Chatman said he believes Obama will represent the entire nation, but said he has broken just one barrier.

"It's still just one barrier that has been broken," said Chatman, a teacher from New Orleans. "Until we get rid of the 'first black' thing, we have a long way to go."

Stanley Egejuru, 25, of Newark, said he is hopeful that Obama's election changes at least one dynamic in African-Americans' muted complaints about racial bigotry: " 'The Man' is now a black man," he said.

But changing attitudes, he said, will not be easy because they have been in place "for hundreds of years."

Lanita Whitehurst, 40, of Silver Spring, Md., agreed that it will take time to change, but "I feel so hopeful about this country and the direction we are going in."

Though she has always been proud of her country, she wasn't always sure its leaders had the best interests of African-Americans at heart.

"You never knew which ones, quite frankly, are racists," Whitehurst said. Though Obama has largely avoided discussing race, and probably won't put issues that are important to African-Americans at the top of his agenda, she said, "he doesn't have an agenda that's secretly against us."