What I hope Obama’s second inaugural will address

Posted January 21st, 2013 by James DeWolf Perry
Category: Public History Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Civil rights movement, Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King Jr., Sesquicentennial of the U.S. Civil War

Today marks only the second time that Inauguration Day has coincided with our national holiday commemorating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and on this occasion, our first black president will be taking the oath of office for the second time.

Here is what I hope the president will include in his second Inaugural Address:

This year marks the coming together of two powerful anniversaries, the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Today, 50 years after the civil rights movement and 150 years after the end of slavery, we have come a long way towards realizing the visions of Lincoln and King for a more just and inclusive society. Yet the legacies of slavery and race—the unfinished business of Civil War and civil rights—remain a crisis in our nation.

Fifty years ago, King began his “Dream” speech by noting that while the Emancipation Proclamation had been “a great beacon light of hope to millions,” nevertheless, “100 years later, the Negro still is not free.”

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

It is time to take stock, fifty years later, of these two historic anniversaries, and to ask ourselves what progress we have made towards ending racial prejudice and inequality … and in what ways King’s dream yet remains unfulfilled.

Update: Lonnie Bunch, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture and one of our board members, has echoed these themes this morning during ABC’s live inaugural coverage.

Here is what Lonnie had to say to Diane Sawyer:

What is so moving about this year is the confluence of events. It is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that began this creeping process that ended slavery. But it’s also the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, so in many ways this is the year that black history profoundly changed America’s course. And I think the president recognizes how important that is to celebrate.