There have been several moments in my lifetime which I pray will be in my great-great-grandchildren's history books.
The Vietnam War will be there (I add this, even though I wasn't alive for all of it).
Perhaps the twin space shuttle disasters of 1986 and 2003 will be included, but probably not by the time several generations have passed. Such things, traumatic and overwhelming at the time, seem to be overshadowed by other events a century later.
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1986 ought to make it. I also hope the image of the single man facing down a column of tanks in the Tienanmen Square demonstrations and protests of 1989 makes it in.
Certainly September 11, 2001 will be there.
With it, the twin Gulf Wars of 1991 and today will be mentioned.
The recent crash of investment giants might make it in, depending on how far-reaching their effects wind up being. This would be the problem of predicting the future view of history.
But today, I am writing about something that will be included beyond any doubt. The election of Barack Obama to be the 44th president of the United States is going to be in the history books as long as we have history books.
January 1, 1863, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states.
December 6, 1865, the practice of slavery is abolished by constitutional amendment (#13).
February 1870, restrictions on the right to vote according to race is abolished by constitutional amendment (#15).
January 23, 1964, poll taxes, often used to intimidate African-American voters and unfairly bias elections, are abolished by constitutional amendment (#24).
In 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously rules that anti-miscegenation laws are unconstitutional. These were the laws in various states prohibiting mixed-race marriages, such as that of Barack Obama's parents.
November 4, 2008, by both popular and electoral vote in a record turnout year, Barack Obama becomes the president-elect of the United States of America.
This moment will be in my great-great-grandchildren's history books. For good reason.
1 comment:
This is truly one for the history books, and rightly so. Yesterday when I voted and got ready to submit my ballot, the Election Official said, "you're about to become a part of history". What an amazing statement. We all became a part of history. May God watch over our country and it's new leader.
Peace,
Dana M
Post a Comment