By The Editors
The first wave of what will undoubtedly be a flood of books exploring what propelled Barack Obama to his historic victory have now come rushing from the printing presses. Taken together, they seem to mark the likely boundaries of the territory those that follow them will traverse.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee…

By Richard Prince
When Les Payne retired in 2006 as associate editor of the Long Island newspaper Newsday, Editor John Mancini said Payne had “produced a weekly column that was so strong, so provocative and generated so much hate mail that Newsday editors got to know the names of all the Suffolk County Police Department’s bomb-sniffing dogs.”

By TaRessa Stovall
Like my colleagues Stacey Patton and Mel Gagarin, I had gone to Inauguration ’09 in Washington, DC fully planning to send a steady stream of live blog blippets to chronicle the experience as it unfolded.

By Stacey Patton
Amidst the outpouring of support and joy from the largest crowd ever to assemble for an inauguration, there was one striking moment of collective anger from the crowd. For those watching the ceremony on television or the Internet, that moment got drowned out by the playing of the brass band.

Pearl Cleage, Haki R. Madhubuti and E. Ethelbert Miller offer words to celebrate the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama.

By TaRessa Stovall Sunday, Jan. 18 As comedian Jon Stewart observed, a black man is moving into the White House so Washington, DC declares a State of Emergency. The excitement, the tension, the sheer joy of the citizenry and the scowling, stressed-out demeanor of law enforcement and security personnel are all blended into that unique [...]

By Lee A. Daniels:
The eyes of America and the world are focused on Washington, DC now, where several streams of history are converging to powerful effect.

Mine are as well.

But I am also thinking of Mississippi – of an horrific moment of its past and an extraordinary statement about that moment that appeared Sunday in the Meridian (Miss) Star.

By Mel Gagarin
Normally my job is to collect and share the news of the day. Seldom do I have the opportunity to go watch the news be made. Over the next day and a half I’ll be submitting my first hand accounts of my trip and impressions surrounding and including the inauguration the of the 44th President of the United States of America.

By Stacey Patton
Two days before President-elect Barack Obama’s swearing into office, nearly two thousand children and their family members flocked to the Historical Society of Washington to attend the first ever “Children’s Inaugural Ball” and to remind us all not to forget that they are an essential part of “we the people.”