Obama's Community Organizing Assist

This week we saw the inauguration of America's first black president, Barack Obama. In light of this grand event, I would like to quickly illustrate community organizing's historic role in making this possible.

The seeds of the movement that culminated in Obama's presidency arguably started in the days of Harriet Tubman. Tubman created what is today known as the Underground Railroad. This was a vast network of secret housing stops spanning from the Deep South all the way through Canada in an effort to free slaves. In order to create such a network, Tubman had to organize a system of trusted caretakers and small teams of escaped slaves to pass through the dangerous South. Abolitionists and free blacks greatly aided in this process as their well organized system of "stops" and "conductors" eventually helped to free at least some 30,000 slaves.

The broader abolitionist movement that the Underground Railroad was apart of eventually led to the nation fighting a fierce civil war in order to end slavery for good in the South. This led to the formation of Jim Crow's "separate but equal" policy that would relegate blacks to second class citizenship. However, through the combined organizing efforts led by figures such as Philip A. Randolf to Martin Luther King Jr., blacks and their allies overcame Jim Crow in the 1960s through a multitude of civil rights legislation ranging from the Voting Rights Act to affirmative action.

Everyday people did not let these victories be an excuse to ease up off the pedal. Various groups stayed organized and engaged to push for further equality measures that would open up vast opportunities for minorities and women in business, education, politics, etc. These organizing efforts laid the groundwork to make Barack Obama's presidential run possible by insuring minority rights and the generation of young people who grew up in a post-civil rights era. Obama's well ran campaign took advantage of a what decades of community organizing made possible: a more equitable and diverse American society.