Telecasts, Internet Allow Students To See Historical Inauguration

Van Middle School Principal Trent Goodwin knew days like Tuesday do not come along very often.

So when the 44th President of the United States — and the country’s first African-American president — took the oath of office and made his Inauguration Day speech, Goodwin had students gather in front of the nine television sets at various locations on the campus.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see history being made," he said. "We wanted our students to get the chance to see something they will always remember, one of those days you think back on later in your life and think, ‘Wow!’"

Throughout Van Zandt County schools, television sets or Internet-connected computers brought a historical Inauguration Day ceremony to students’ eyes and ears.

With children between the ages of 9 and 12 at his campus, Goodwin said he was happy for "a chance to show them history being made and for them to be a part of it."

"A teacher and I were talking recently about Inauguration Day and how unique it was that we are really starting to see part of Dr. (Martin Luther) King Jr.’s vision coming true," he said.

"To take part in seeing it, no matter who you are or what color your skin, is to be reminded you can be anything you want to be," Goodwin added.

Edom resident and former Canton Junior High history teacher Lewis Young might have a greater appreciation than most of King’s legacy.

He was just in his third year as a professional schoolteacher when King made his famous "I Have A Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"I am very glad that I lived long enough to see this," he said.

Young mentioned that several of the train stops Obama made from Ohio to the nation’s capital in the days leading up to the Inauguration Day ceremony were the same he had stood on in the past, sometimes while taking classes on trips to Washington, D.C.

He said he appreciates the historical significance of Obama’s ascendancy to the office of President of the United States.

"It has been a struggle through the years, going all the way back to the Dred Scott case, but here we are…I once stood in the train station where Harriet Tubman had been through, I remember Rosa Parks, Dr. King’s march and everything down through the years that started with the Civil Rights movement during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations," Young said.

However, the former history teacher, who retired in 1996, said he hopes people will eventually stop referencing skin color altogether.

"As a teacher, I didn’t see any student as a black child or a white child. To me, every one of them had feelings and a mind," he said.

"I probably won’t see it in my lifetime, but I would like to see us as a nation get to a point where we stop calling someone by race," he added.

However, Young said he believes young people like the students who huddled around TV sets at Van Middle School on Tuesday could bring that to pass.

"We have a new generation coming along, and they think nothing of race anymore," he said.

Young noted that his son Reginald and wife Dedria were there in Washington, D.C. for the ceremony.

He said there is much work ahead for Obama, his cabinet and advisors, but is encouraged by the prospect of a unified effort to address many problems confronting the nation at this time.

"If he can bring the nation together and get the economy back on track, that will be a big plus in his favor. He has some good advisors along with him because he knows he can’t do it all himself," Young said.

"It’s going to take all of us to make this thing go," he added.