Inauguration History

This time…

January 20, 2009, America will swear into office a new president. This time, this inauguration will be different from any other inauguration in the history of this country. It will represent not only the changing of the guard but the symbol of change for an American culture.
The previous presidents, bred from a Caucasian heritage, will be shattered by the most provocative change since the Emancipation Proclamation.

The liberty that came to black slaves was not won primarily by the votes of the representatives of the American people, but by the unswerving nature of a people who fought and defended the right to believe that all men are created equal.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of a bloody civil war. America was involuntarily forced to change when an enslaved people were unleashed onto American soil to explore an innate potential to become anything they wanted to be. Black people were still held back from many of the privileges that were afforded to Caucasian Americans. This time, Blacks had the constitutional right to fight against a system that denied them of the American dream. This fight gave birth to a man who led a revolt without weapons—a man reverently called, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He fought with the intangibles such as intellect, wisdom, perseverance and courage. Never in the history of Black America was a fight predicated on a dream—the American Dream. He led Blacks and some Civil Rights supporting Caucasians into the most violent nonviolent protest in American history. African Americans marched their way into beatings, hangings, shootings; and for what! So that equality could be realized and dreams can come true. Dr. King’s dream of the American Dream has now blanketed the highest office in America. Barak Obama will be a dream come true for the many that died, bled, cried, prayed, and suffered for this once in a lifetime event.

America is great, but not on its own merits. Americans of all races have made this country what it is and what she is now experiencing. America did not vote for an African American president, the American people did. Now, the American people must return to its rich religious roots for why this country was founded, and pray!

Pray to the Almighty God to strengthen our new President who happens to be African American. Lord, help our president to hear your heart for our nation.

During the Civil War, a friend of Abraham Lincoln was a visitor at the White House and saw the President kneeling over an open Bible and he prayed:

Oh, Thou God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed and cried for wisdom, hear me. . . . I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without Thy help. Hear me and save this nation.

When the leaders of our country assembled to write the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin proposed that each session be opened with prayer. Franklin said,