from staff reports
Through a sea of muffled applause from gloved spectators gathered in our nation's capital nearly a year ago, hundreds of East Mississippi residents were in attendance to take in the historic occasion.
Many traveled to Washington, D.C., to watch the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the country's 44th president.
It was a moment not about politics, but about history. And it was a moment they say they'll never forget. Some said East Mississippi's civil rights past made the historic moment particularly momentous.
The day was also special for those in East Mississippi who were not able to travel to Washington. The Meridian Star sold an extra 3,000 copies of the paper for the inauguration editions when residents wanted to read what their neighbors experienced and keep a piece of American history.
"I'll never forget it," said Veldore Young, daughter of former state Rep. Charles L. Young Sr., who died last year. Charles Young was among the last of the generation of civil rights workers from East Mississippi who worked alongside the likes of Meridian's James Earl Chaney, a civil rights activist and martyr. Chaney and two other civil rights workers Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were killed during Freedom Summer 1964 while fighting for the right to vote.
That fateful summer and East Mississippi's civil rights past made Obama's inauguration special and provided enough reason for Vel Young and others to make the trip to Washington for the inauguration.
Four-plus decades of hopes and dreams came to fruition, some said.
Rev. Charles Johnson, a former civil rights worker who once advised Chaney, is among the few still alive in Meridian who was deep in the struggle of the 1960s. Johnson said Obama’s inauguration was an emotional time for him.
"I never thought I'd ever live to see (that) day," said Johnson.
It also brought back memories of a time when Mississippi was a different place, and a group of courageous people were fighting just to vote, Johnson said.
Some who made the trip and braved the sub-20 degree temperatures didn't even get in. Johnnie Delk, 66, enjoyed her time in Washington, but she didn't get to see the swearing-in ... even though she had a ticket. The area she had a ticket for filled too fast and she was unable to watch, only listen.
"It was total chaos, so many people wanted to get in and couldn't, even with their tickets," Delk said. "I was still a part of history, though, so I can't complain too much. I just wish I could have seen it."
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