By Leslie Proll
When President Obama took office last January, hopes were high that the right wing’s long stronghold on the federal courts had come to an end. LDF and other civil rights advocates were eager for a new day when fair and impartial judges would once again be nominated and confirmed in large numbers.

By John Payton
A year ago, we could barely contain our excitement as we contemplated a historic achievement. Barack Obama had won a decisive victory. There was widespread enthusiasm for his Presidency. Right after the election, Gallup reported that 68 percent of the public was proud that Obama was President. His choices of Senator Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State, of Eric Holder to be Attorney General and of Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense were well received. His Inaugural speech was brilliant. We were looking forward to acknowledging and confronting fundamental problems that have plagued our society for decades.

By Lee A. Daniels
This is the week America celebrates in special fashion the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 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 stew known [...]

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.”