This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 20, 2009 - WASHINGTON - A sliver of a crescent moon still shown in the dark sky when wave upon wave of inaugural attendees began streaming down the streets of the capital and onto the national Mall to see Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. They had a long time to wait, but a festive, expectant atmosphere prevailed over the bone-chilling cold.
By the time the sun rose behind the Capitol, the Mall was densely packed from the Capitol steps to the Smithsonian castle and merry-go-round nearly a mile away. From there the brightly lit podium where Obama would take the oath of office five hours later was just barely visible.
It appeared that a larger percentage of the crowd was African-American than at previous inaugurations. Roughly one out of every four or five attendees was African-American.
Some women wore long, fur coats as if decked out for Sunday services. Hawkers sold hand warmers and sold Obama souvenirs to those streaming toward the Mall. On the Mall itself, long lines formed to buy official Obama paraphernalia or to get into the the warmth of the Smithsonian museums.
Those determined to save their places sat on blankets as if at very cold picnics. Groups of people huddled together on the ground in hopes of keeping each other warm. Temperatures were in the 20s as the crowd gathered around sunrise, but it felt much colder because of the wind. A sunny sky promised a small measure of relief as the ceremony approached.
Ushers sponsored by the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, some in red tops and red stocking caps, cheered the crowd as they filed to their places.
Many attendees oriented themselves around the huge jumbotrons that lined the Mall every few hundred yards for the entire two-mile stretch from the Capitol, past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. They cheered when Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, appeared on the screen, followed by the Obamas. It was a replay of Sunday's festivities at the Lincoln Memorial, but the crowd was happy to see the reruns nonetheless.
Much of the crowd gathered around the eastern side of the rise that surrounds the Washington Monument. Part of the group braved the stiff wind to stand on the prominence where they could see the mall stretching up to the Capitol. Others found a more sheltered area off to the side of the monument where they could watch a jumbotron a bit more comfortably, even though they had no view of the stage itself.
Another group gathered a few hundred yards away around a jumbotron at the edge of a sweet gum grove by the World War II memorial. And away from the Capitol, people already were lining the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, two miles and more than a million people away from Obama.
A few small groups walked along the length of the Vietnam Memorial at the edge of the Mall farthest from the Capitol. Without nearby jumbotrons, the Memorial was something of a respite from commotion all around.
Joining the crowds moving down 18th Street toward the Mall was a line of hooded men in orange prison suits, part of a protest again the Guantanamo prison. Obama is expected to issue an order closing Guantanamo in the future and ending the system of military commissions established by President George W. Bush.
William H. Freivogel will be with the students from Carbondale on this journey through contemporary American history, and will report on the inauguration for the Beacon. He is director of the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, an associate professor in the school and is visiting professor in the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
