I have had the opportunity to witness a number of important historical events during my lifetime. These events have had profound impacts on the social and political direction of the society. The most important historical event I have lived through is when Barack Obama was elected to be the president of the United States. This event was historic since it was the first time that Americans had voted in a black president, therefore demonstrating an end to the racial barrier that had characterized American politics for centuries.
The United States of America has had a shameful racial history characterized by the discrimination of the non-white citizens in the country. The black population has been the greatest victim of racism in the US. This minority group has been discriminated against from as far back as the slavery years of the eighteenth century. It was only after the victory of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s that black people were afforded equal rights in the Unite States.
While the country has made major steps towards true equality since then, nobody expected this progress to be reflected at the highest political level. Nagourney observes that two years before the election of Obama, the idea of an African-American head of state was unthinkable to most Americans (par.3). Yet on November 2008, Obama was able to defeat his Republican opponent and become the 44th president of the country. Many people saw this as a symbolic moment that signaled a dramatic change in the country’s racial direction (Nagourney par.2).
Future historians reviewing this event will be able to tell a number of important things about the time in which we live. To begin with, they will be able to infer that there were some racial problems of our time. By reviewing the documents written by scholars from this time, the historians will see that the election of a black president was a significant event. They will discover that since the foundation of the nation of America in 1776, only whites had occupied the presidency.
The election of President Obama will be seen as a point of change in American society. The future historians will conclude that there was great social and political change taking place in the US at the time of this event. This change will explain why the nation was able to break with its past and elect an African American head of state. The future historians will be able to deduce that many Americans were changing their attitudes on the race issue by studying this historical event.
Of all the historical events that I have lived through, I consider the election of Barack Obama to be the most important. This event was truly historical since it marked a major change in America’s racial history. By choosing a black president, US citizens showed that they were willing to judge people based on the content of their mind and character as opposed to the color of their skin. Future historians will be able to tell about the racial issue of our era as well as the willingness of our generation to change by studying this event.
Works Cited
Nagourney, Adam. Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls. 2008. Web.