Philadelphians scramble to see Obama inauguration

A few weeks after the March presidential primaries, Darlene Atta had a feeling.

Barack Obama had won a string of state primaries and was besting the mighty Hillary Rodham Clinton. It could happen, Atta thought. Obama could very well become the next president of the United States, the first African American to hold the title of commander-in-chief.

It was that belief in the historically impossible, and her memory of a time when blacks couldn't even drive buses in her native Chester County, that drove Atta to book a hotel room so she could attend the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.

"I just felt a sense of excitement," explained Atta, 60, an adjunct professor of urban studies at Eastern University's Philadelphia campus. "I still wasn't 100 percent sure that he would become the party's nominee and ultimately the president. But I thought strongly that if he was successful, I wanted to be there."

Click here to read more.