As millions of spectators in Washington took their seats for the President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, the students at Nottingham High School did the same. More than 600 students filed into the school’s auditorium on the East Side of Syracuse hoping to watch Obama take his oath of office.

Only a few rows of seats were empty, as teachers stood in the aisles and watched from the back of the room, but for a brief moment it seemed as if everyone would miss the chance to witness history.

The coverage of the inauguration projected on the screen at the front of the room suddenly become pixilated.

“We wanna hear Obama,” yelled one student from the middle of the auditorium.

The crowd echoed similar sentiments as the Librarian Manami Tezuka struggled to fix the inauguration feed.

“Right now it’s through the district network, we’re hoping it doesn’t crash since everyone is watching right now. The access to cable isn’t great and not everyone has access to cable,” Tezuka said. She laughed in relief as the coverage started back up.

Students stood and applauded throughout the pre-inauguration performances and speeches, but the atmosphere was very different when Obama stood and faced Chief Justice John Roberts. As Obama recited the oath of office, students and faculty were transfixed on the screen. The room erupted in applause and screams as Obama was officially sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

“We’re here, we’re going to remember this for the rest of our lives,” said student Dawn Dawson, 17. “It’s history we’re able to witness, like MLK and JFK, we read about it but were never really able to experience it. “

Senior Summer Kelly said she wasn’t able to vote in the 2008 election because she wasn’t 18 yet. “But I’m always going be really proud that I was alive in a time that the first black president was elected,” she said.

Thomas Little teaches advanced placement government at Nottingham and had been preparing his students for inauguration day since Obama won the election on Nov. 4. “They look at it as seeing a new president,” Little said. “For them it’s about seeing a new face, new idea, new image, and a new focus and I think for them that part is amazing. It’s exciting, very very exciting.”

In a classroom upstairs from the auditorium, the inauguration was more than a memory for Marquie Little. For this graduating senior, it was a milestone.

Little said members of his family had been waiting their whole lives to see an African American president take office. “They’ve been looking so forward to it,” Little said. “I know my grandmother and my grandfather has been for about forty to fifty something years.”
When asked what Obama’s presidency means to him, Little replied, “Change. A change in ourselves, more pride in where we come from.”

Beth Croughan

Pamela Hunter sat in the Palace Theater and watched as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. And although Hunter was hundreds of miles away from the action on the mall in the nation’s capitol, she felt closer to the White House than ever before. “My son can be president…It’s amazing, just amazing.”

And Pamela wasn’t alone. Hundreds of others from the Syracuse area filled the seats in the Palace Theater on James Street to celebrate the historic inauguration of the nation’s first Black president.

The event was organized by The Onondaga County Democrats, but was open to everyone. People of all ages and races were in attendance, sitting in movie-theater style seats, enjoying popcorn and watching C-SPAN on a large projection screen. Fern Whyland, the former Executive Director of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, said she organized the event to give people a place to celebrate the historic day. She said she hoped that everyone in attendance walked away with a sense of community and a feeling that they were all in it together. And most people echoed her call.

John Carr of Eastwood came to the Palace Theater with his 8-year-old daughter, Calee Ann. She was home sick from school, but decided to share the day with her dad at the theater. Sitting together in the back, John, with Calee Ann, proudly showed off his Lyndon B. Johnson pin and said he hoped “that people understand change does take time and that it is the first step for our country. We should give our kids the future we were promised.”

Theresa Mohamed of Manlius also went to the Palace Theater to watch the inauguration with her family; her husband Farouq and their son Hemed. Theresa said she wanted to be with other people to be apart of something bigger. And Hemed, who was leaving for college shortly after the inauguration, said that not only did he enjoy the time he was spending with his family, but that today was a proud day for Americans, so “what better way to spend it, but with other Americans, here in Central New York.”

Onondaga County Legislator Tom Buckel was also in attendance. He spent nearly two years working on the Obama campaign and said he was proud to see the culmination of so much hard work and effort, but noted that “…this is only the beginning, this is not the end, and we don’t just go home and rely on our President. It’s a time when we walk out of here, roll up our sleeves and attack the kind of issues that we have to confront here. We’re not just going to rely on others to do this.”

And while many of the people at the theater would have loved to witness history with a front row seat in Washington D.C., Don Pineger and his wife Edie, said they wouldn’t have been anywhere else, “you look at the crowds in D.C. and I think we have a great seat right here…”

Marlei Martinez

More than 700 people of different race, gender and religion met to witness history on Inauguration Day. Students, professors and faculty crowded around a big screen in Syracuse University’s Goldstein Auditorium to watch the swearing-in of the nation’s 44th president, Barack Obama.

“I was not an Obama supporter, I’m a Neoconservative actually,” graduate student Jeffrey Cappella said. “But today isn’t about being a Republican, Democrat or Neoconservative. So today, I’m not Neoconservative, I’m just American.”

Goldstein Auditorium has three sections of seating: the main floor, the middle floor and the balcony—all of which were full from the beginning to the end of Obama’s speech. His words even enticed Republican voters to stay in their seats.

“I voted for the other guy,” Freshman Erin DeVine said. “But, I think [Obama’s] a really powerful person. He’s great with words. He has great ideas. I hope and believe he can execute all of his plans.”

The Goldstein audience stood up together when Obama first came on screen. They sat down together when he raised his right hand to take the Oath of Office. They laughed together when he stumbled over the words of his oath because Chief Justice John Roberts misspoke. The audience was watching Obama’s every televised move.

“The president is the biggest celebrity in the country and you want to get to know him,” SU alum Abby Feldman said.

“I agree,” Senior Celina Tousignant said. “It’s a very unifying experience that we’re watching this at the same time with people all over the world. He spoke so well that there’s no way you can’t become emotionally charged about everything he says.”

The pop of Champagne corks reverberated from across the bar, cheers and laughter ripped through crowd like wildfire.  Chants of “yes we can” echoed across the room.  One man went around taking everyone’s picture with an Obama front page picture from the Wall Street Journal.

Barak Obama’s historic inauguration day provided a gateway to unite all of these people at Shifty’s bar on Burnet Avenue, showcasing the power of Obama’s reach.

“We have a bunch of self-employed, unemployed cross-section of the Syracuse community all here,” Harold Schultz of Syracuse said.

The inauguration of Barack Obama was a moment some Shifty’s bar-goers will never forget.  Mark Edwards was one customer who celebrated in style, sporting a black tuxedo outfitted with a red bow tie. “It’s great to be here with our friends, dressed up,” Edwards said.  “I haven’t worn this tux in 15 years and it still fits.”

But not everyone was formally dressed for the occasion. Billy Doran was hard to miss, wearing his oversized Obama sweatshirt labeled “Yes We Can.”  The Vietnam veteran says he has fallen upon hard times, but remains positive.

“I am looking forward to what he can do to change the country,” Doran said.

Many black Americans have long waited forthis day, and Walter Eadie was no exception.  The promises of hope and change were especially touching for Eadie.

“You couldn’t help but too feel proud to see how the country is taking itself in a different direction,” Eadie said.

Calvin White shared Eadie’s excitement, and a similar viewpoint.  However, White expressed the black community still needs to take big strides before the day of equality will truly arrive.  He says he is waiting for a time when black people can be American “without all the hyphens.”

“It’s a very joyous day for me,” White said.

About two-dozen people gathered at the Brady Faith Center to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The faith center, a place for socializing and community fellowship, is located on the southwest side of Syracuse.

Community members in attendance expressed gratitude for having a place to share the historic moment with others. There were cheers as video of Washington, D.C. flashed across a television screen.

As Aretha Franklin began to sing, “My Country `Tis of Thee” some people in the audience mouthed the lyrics or swayed with the music. Others had tears in their eyes while Franklin serenaded the crowd in the nation’s capital and the millions watching all over the world. As the inauguration event continued the community members responded to the images on TV as if they were there in Washington. The people at the Brady Faith Center acted as participants, rather than onlookers.

The energized group moved around the room as the inauguration progessed, sitting and standing to cheer with the crowd at the Smithsonian Mall. They embracing each another and applauded as President Obama took his oath of office. The members in attendance, of all different races, celebrated as one community. Then they grew silent and hushed each other as President Obama gave his inaugural address.

Throughout the speech the audience shouted encouraging words as Obama outlined the tenants of his presidency. After the speech, a women watching at the center stood up and praised God for what she had just wittnessed.