Several students from UL Lafayette along with a faculty member and an alumnus will be a part of history on Tuesday as newly-elected Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.
Dr. Bob Carriker, head of UL Lafayette’s History and Geography Department, is traveling with a group of nine students to Washington, D.C. this weekend. They will be among crowd of onlookers – estimated in the millions – as the first African-American president is inaugurated.
“ I told the students that this is an historic event of tremendous magnitude. It is a significant event comparable to the most momentous occasions of modern history,” he said. “I asked them, ‘Twenty, 30, 40 or 50 years from now, do you want to say you watched it on television or read about it in the newspaper or on someone’s blog? Or, do you want to be able to say that you were there?’ The whole point of this trip is to participate in history.”
Carriker said the group includes both undergraduates and graduate students from a variety of disciplines including history, political science, and anthropology. They plan to leave Lafayette early Saturday morning for the drive north.
Emily Berard, a political science major, is part of the group. “It’s going to be an adventure and there are kind of no expectations,” she said. “It’s to be there and see what we see and experience what comes along and that’s the whole excitement behind it.”
For Shawn Wilson, a 1993 graduate of UL Lafayette and the first African-American president of the Alumni Association, celebrating the inauguration will be a family affair. He, his wife and two children will all be there.
“ I see this as an opportunity for my children to be a part of history. I missed the opportunity to be a part of some of this nation’s most historic achievements such as the March on Washington or the passage of the Civil Rights Bill,” he explained. “Not only is this important to help shape the way they define themselves as African Americans, it is critical to contributing to how they define themselves as Americans.”
The family will also visit the hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, his burial site and the homes of Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglas and Arlington Cemetery.
“ Each stop will have cultural or American aspects that will contribute to the value of the trip,” he said. “I anticipate that this experience and this achievement will be something a Civics class could not do justice to.”