As the nation’s first African-American president was sworn into office yesterday, some senior citizens around the country watched the event with memories of the country’s past mixed with the disbelief of what was happening in 2009.
Ohio resident 85-year-old Evelun Decker watched President Barack Obama’s inauguration and said she knew she was seeing history in the making, the Daily Record reports.
"He has brought everyone together.
I am a true believer," Decker told the news provider.
Donald Taft, a 73-year-old Texas resident, told the Beaumont Enterprise that he hoped the election of President Obama was only the beginning.
"People died so we could have a right to sit at the table. I hope it will cause people to make a change within themselves so that they will not go back," Taft said.
However, it may be Lillian Allen of Pittsburgh who can put into words the emotion many senior citizens were feeling at the time of the inauguration, NPR.org reports. Allen is 100 years old and told the website she remembers a time when blacks and women couldn’t vote.
"I mean, who would have thought a black man would be president, now, really? I don’t think anyone thought this would happen – not in our lifetime," Allen said.
© Copyright
