I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed...
--from Dr Martin Luther King Jr's acceptance speech after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 1964. Then the youngest man to win that honour
The US Election: Complete Coverage
Though he was not spawned by the civil rights movement of the 1960s (he was, after all, just a child in that heady era) or an offspring of the traditional black political machine in America, Barack Obama discovered his roots and his calling when he moved to Chicago after graduating from America's prestigious Columbia university in 1983.
He began to slowly understand the dynamics of black politics, and its coupling with economic and social aspirations. By the time he left for the Harvard Law School, he was no longer Barry Obama, the kid from Hawaii who grew up in a white family and had few black friends. He had evolved into Barack Obama, a super-confident young man, comfortable with his black lineage.
Image: A scene from the election night celebration rally in Grant Park, Chicago. Photograph: Sail Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Indian Americans make a mark at the convention
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