By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

DIAMOND, Mo. — Standing next to a statue of George Washington Carver on Wednesday, Paxton Williams couldn’t help but think about how far the nation has come since Carver, a child of slaves, made his mark on America.

“Last night, when I watched Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, I felt extremely proud that an African-American could achieve this — that this day had come,” he said.

Williams, 30, executive director of the George Washington Carver Birthplace Association, said Obama, in his acceptance speech, outlined the significance of the moment in U.S. history.

“His allusions to Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln help us understand the momentousness of this occasion,” he said. “But because he was simply elected does not mean the work is done. We live, perhaps, in a time when we will face the greatest challenges of our generation.”

Williams said he was amazed by what he saw when Obama spoke to an estimated 250,000 people Tuesday night in Chicago.



Click the viewer to view a video excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I have a dream” speech





“It looked like America when you looked out in that crowd,” he said. “He showed that he could bring a diverse people together on all levels. His campaign was a microcosm of how the nation could be and how the world could be, one where we don’t focus on the differences but focus on the larger issues on which we can find agreement.”

Williams, who has written a play about Carver, said he sent a lot of text messages Tuesday night after Obama’s victory.

“I called my parents in Mississippi, and I talked to my 5-year-old niece, Tia,” he said. “I asked her if she knew who Barack Obama was. She said, ‘He’s going to be the next president of the United States.’ She said her Papa — her grandfather — voted for Barack for her. I told her I voted for Barack for her, too.”

The Rev. Harry Givens, 82, of Joplin, said it was good morning for America on Wednesday.

“I went to sleep knowing that the election had been won by him. I was very thrilled about it,” he said. “It finally shows that an African-American can reach the top goal. If you work hard enough, it can be done.

“It also shows how you can go across lines of race and sex, that people can actually get together and make up their minds, that they can do it together. That is the real victory of the election.”

Givens, who said he thought he would never live to see the day that a black American would occupy the White House, said Obama’s acceptance speech was before a crowd that mirrors the makeup of America.

“That was part of Martin Luther King’s dream coming true right there,” he said, while also praising Sen. John McCain’s speech that confirmed Obama’s victory. “McCain gave a great speech, and I think he meant everything he said.

“What does this say to the rest of the world? It shows the world that we are expecting a major change, and that we think Obama is the one who can do it. These are changes for mankind that will be better — not just the black race.”

Melodee Colbert-Kean, 40, also of Joplin, the first black woman to be elected to the Joplin City Council, said she was hopeful as the hours slowly passed on election night. But she could not believe what she saw on her television set when it happened.

“My first reaction was to flip it to another channel, and then another channel to make sure it was happening,” she said. “After that, it was pure elation. I was overwhelmed. It was so emotional.

“What this means is that there are no barriers for anyone anymore. That’s with any race, any minority — anybody. It’s all achievable. You could see that in the sea of people who heard his acceptance speech. They represented everyone — white, black and Latino.

“Obama’s election represents hope and promise. That’s exactly what it is: the belief in the dream of what we can achieve if we all get on the same page.”

Steve Harmon, a professor of history at Pittsburg (Kan.) State University, said: “It’s clearly an historical moment. That’s obvious. For me, it’s similar to the first Catholic president and what might have been the first woman president, which was not that far removed from possibility in this election.

“I was reminded of what John Kennedy said about the idea of a Catholic candidate. He said, ‘It’s not right for 40 million Catholics to wake up in the morning and feel they have no chance of becoming president.’

“It would not be right for 40 million African-Americans to wake up in the morning and feel they have no chance of becoming president. Well, they don’t feel that way anymore. That’s really something.”





Other milestones



First black mayor of a major city: Carl Stokes, Cleveland, Ohio, 1967–1971.

First black governor (elected): L. Douglas Wilder, Virginia, 1990–1994.

First black U.S. representative: Joseph Rainey, of South Carolina, in 1870. He was re-elected four times.

First black U.S. senator: Hiram Revels was a senator from Mississippi from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871, during Reconstruction. Edward Brooke, of Massachusetts, became the first black senator since Reconstruction, 1966–1979.

Source: www.infoplease.com