A Circle on the Verge of Closing

In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama evoked the American history of the civil rights struggle as a sojourn made in increments and bold strokes, and that sojourn is the history of my family and so many others whose American story began in this land as indentured servants and as human chattel. In the lifetime of futures, they knew this day, too, would come

1. President Barack Obama Inaugural Address, January 21, 2103.

2. Tesler, M., & Sears, D. O. (2010). Obamas race: the 2008 election and the dream of a post-racial America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

3. JFK (President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, assassination 1963), MLK (Rev. Martin Luther King, assassination1968) and RFK (Robert Francis Kennedy, assassination 1968). 4. Hughes, L., Collier, B., & Linn, L. (2012). I, too, am America. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 5. Seneca Falls Convention - HISTORY; Selma to Montgomery March; 1969 Stonewall Riots - Origins, Timeline & Leaders - HISTORY

6. Lift Every Voice and Sing (also referred to as a national anthem for African Americans) was first written as a poem written by James Weldon Johnson. It was performed for the first time by 500 school children in celebration of President Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville, FL. The poem was set to music by Johnson's brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and soon adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its official song.

7. Lift Every Voice and Sing, performed by Veronica Thornton. For full lyrics and additional background.