02/22/2022
As we enter into the last full week of Black History Month, we want to celebrate our heritage and the achievements of our ancestors. But also let us not forget that we are also living Black History.
Almost a century before Barack Obama made history as the first African American to become president of the United States in 2008, a black man by the name of George Edwin Taylor set his eyes on the White House in 1904. George Edwin Taylor was born in 1857 as the son of a free woman and an African American slave, Taylor worked as a professional journalist before getting involved in politics. Taylor was the first African American man selected by a political party to be its candidate for the presidency of the United States. In 1904, an all black independent party called The National Negro Liberty Party, sometimes known as The National Liberty Party nominated Taylor to run for president on a third-party ticket.
Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African American commander-in-chief. He served two terms, in 2008 and 2012. The son of parents from Kenya and Kansas, Obama was born and raised in Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. After serving on the Illinois State Senate, he was elected a U.S. senator representing Illinois in 2004.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - Barack Obama
