Misblog

Originally Published January 04, 2009; Updated and Republished January 05, 2009; Updated and Republished January 13, 2009; Updated and Republished January 19, 2009:

Happy Martin Luther King 2009 Day—What A Day!
(Even if the "Promised Land"⁴ is a bit tattered, today)

Going to the Obama1 Presidential Inaugural3? Grab a copy of Jesse J. Holland's book Black Men Built The Capitol, Globe Pequot Press, 2007—use it as your own personal guide while doing the National Mall sightseeing thing2—be sure to share your thoughts, pictures, and videos with all the virtual attendees. What appears to other tourists as a majestic corner park on our beautiful National Mall, close to today's US Department of Education, will be perceived differently by readers of Black Men Built The Capitol.

That majestic corner park will have you wondering what it was like to go "clubbing" in the early 1800s when partiers checked their slaves into slave pens before joining the festivities, upstairs.

Some club (aka taverns) owners competed for customers by offering to reimburse slave owners for any escaping slave—nothing ruins the party atmosphere faster than worrying about whether your slave might escape!

Something to think about as you check your coat in at the club and the ravin' begins.

Web:

• UPDATED 01/20/2009 BBC, Moment of history as Obama sworn in. Includes swearing-in video, pictures, and text of Obama Inaugural speech.

• UPDATED 01/18/2009 NYT, Lincoln Memorial Concert Kicks Off Festivities

  • UPDATED 01/19/2009 NYT, THE INAUGURATION. NYT blog keeping track of inaugural comings and goings—lots of good info, pics, and links.
  • UPDATED 01/19/2009 NYT, Picturing the Inauguration: The Readers’ Album. A virtual wall of reader posted pics hosted by NYT servers.

Blog:

• UPDATED 01/18/2009 NYT The Caucus, The Scene at the Lincoln Memorial. Includes text of Obama's remarks:

  "...It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.

  It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds - because there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change."--Obama, Lincoln Memorial January 2009--

• UPDATED 01/18/2009 Inaugural Blog, Liveblogging the Inaugural Welcome Event at the Lincoln Memorial. Includes a Flickr Slide Show:

  

• UPDATED 01/05/2009 Inaugural Blog, President-elect Obama to Host Neighborhood Ball

YouTube: UPDATED 01/20/2009 (Presidential Inaugural Committee 2009 YouTube Channel):

• Obama Swearing-in; Becoming America’s 44^th President of the United States.

  He is already demonstrating grace under pressure, stopping and patiently awaiting United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to correctly lead him through the Presidential Oath of Office⁵:

  "I [Barack Hussein Obama] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States [optional; so help me God]."

• Channel Video; I Have A Dream reflective:

• Josh Groban, Heather Headley, and Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C. singing: My Country Tis of Thee; We Are One Inaugural Concert.

  Includes 1939 video footage of Marion Anderson singing on the Lincoln Memorial steps, at the invitation of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her use of Constitution Hall, because she was black:

Res:

• Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture
• United States National Slavery Museum

Wikimapia: UPDATED 01/06/2009

• UPDATED 01/12/2009 Nationals Park, Washington, DC Webcam. Looking East across the Potomac, at the Lincoln Memorial (West end of Mall), Washington Monument, and Capitol (Congress) visible in the background.

  Sadly, the National Park Service may have "frozen" the picture for some period of the inaugural festivities—it has not updated since January 16, 2009 at 10:00am (if so, at least it was frozen on a beautiful shot of the National Mall)? It's updating again.
  

  

• Aerial Map of National Mall Area, Washington, D.C.

• Aerial Map of Capitol (Site of Swearing In Ceremony - Capitol), Washington, D.C.. Without tickets it will be a zoo—temporary directional plastic fencing and other boundaries will herd attendees, limiting viewing and discretionary mobility.

  It will also be chilly (cold if you're temperature sensitive; inaugural weather forecast DC), especially in the shade.

• Aerial Map of White House (Site of Presidential Parade Viewing - White House), Washington, D.C.. A small parade passes down Pennsylvania Avenue for presidential viewing.

  All activities are subject to last minute, ad hoc changes, depending on assessed threats and security constraints/concerns.

  One wonders how we went from citizens scheduling appointments for chatting with our president, to their near hermetic isolation? Obama seems intent on poking some virtual holes in that isolation—restoring a modern day version of chatting with our president.

-----notes-----

1. The word "historical" has been left out because there will be little or nothing historic about it—protocol will ensure it's just like the other presidential inaugurals.

What may be historic is an Obama administration becoming a truthful, transparent, trusted, and true friend of the American people—he's off to a great beginning—his untruthful, non-transparent, untrusted, and false "friends" are already disparaging and denigrating him (i.e. calling him "the magic Negro").

2. UPDATED 01/04/2009 Black Men Built The Capitol includes a National Mall map listing the major sites.

The wonderful people at our National Parks Service, National Mall have provided an electronic version, Major Memorials, Washington, DC (.250M pdf).

click to download full-size pdf version
Use them both together and you'll need several weeks or several trips to see everything!

3. UPDATED 01/05/2009 The Inaugural Blog has announced the First-Ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, an affordable alternative to the traditionally unaffordable venues.

"Check back here [above link] for more details regarding ticket distribution and interactive technology."

4. UPDATED 01/19/2009 From Martin Luther King Jr., I Have Seen the Promised Land speech

"...And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land..."--Martin Luther King Jr.--

5. UPDATED 01/22/2009 When those administering or taking our Presidential Oath flub, it's customary to privately redo the process. The lack of public pressures usually produce a flawless recital— Obama privately and flawlessly recited the Presidential Oath (see SFGate, Obama retakes oath to err on side of law.).