Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation’s first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.
The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.
A huge crowd in Grant Park in Obama’s home town of Chicago erupted in jubilation at the news of his victory. Some wept.

Barack Obama America’s 44th President

More to come…I must rest my eyes from the tear of joy I have cried!!!

In 1866, the 14th Amendment to the federal Constitution was passed, guaranteeing citizenship to the former slaves and changing them in the eyes of the law from 3/5 of a person to whole persons. Then, in 1869, the 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote to black men, with most women of all races still unable to vote.

1869 also marked the beginning of “Black Codes,” or state laws that restricted the freedoms of African Americans. Among the freedoms restricted was the freedom to exercise the right to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, hiding the locations of the polls, economic pressures, threats of physical violence, and other strategies to suppress the African American vote were either found in the Black Codes or flowed from them.

The Black Man To Vote

On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson (1824 – 1904) of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, United States, became the first African-American to vote in an election under the just-enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

He was born in Metuchen, New Jersey, to parents that had been slaves owned by the Mundy family.
He was a school custodian in Perth Amboy. Active in the Republican Party, he became that the city’s first African-American to hold elected office, on the Middlesex County Commission. He was also the city’s first ‘colored’ person to serve on a jury.

Decades later, the school where Peterson had worked was renamed after him.
In New Jersey, March 31 is annually celebrated as Thomas Mundy Peterson Day to commemorate the rights of all citizens to vote.

Why This Election Is So Important

For hundreds of years, African Americans were denied the right to vote. Obstacles of voting were written into law, and enforced with nooses, whips and guns.  The blood, sweat and tears of those who fought for the right to vote is part of the legacy of this country. This election represents the right to change for the better.  Not just for blacks but for all.

What Change Means

Rather You Walk, Run or Rock It VOTE Be The Last To Be Counted First!