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Obama Win Brings Joy To Barack's Former Professor

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Nov 5, 2008 6:09 pm US/Eastern

Obama Win Brings Joy To Barack's Former Professor

Results: Local Election Results
Results: National Election Results

Reporting
Peg Rusconi
CAMBRIDGE (WBZ) ― The sight of Barack Obama on the verge of his presidential victory speech stirred up tears in Charles Ogletree.

"Having known Barack for 20 years and Michelle for 23 years, it's hard to describe my joy," said Ogletree, a Harvard Law School professor. "And what made it so wonderful is, it was all of America coming together."

The Obamas were Professor Ogletree's students at Harvard Law School. "He was so skillful, so able to bring people together that I was convinced some day this guy was going to be the best mayor ever anywhere in America. Well, he was a little more ambitious than that and I'm glad."

The excitement of history being made is also resonating with people who've only known of Obama as a man running for president. "We knew one day it would come and yesterday was the day!" said 74-year-old Juanda Drumgold.

She's voted since she was 18, and spent Election Day working at a crowded polling place in Boston's South End.

She was impressed by the generational cross section. "It was whole families, voting together."

Meanwhile, her friend, 84-year-old Freyda Sanders, was impressed by the racial diversity of Obama's supporters. "I didn't know so many non-African Americans would vote for him. I always feared they'd get into the voting booth and vote against him, but they didn't and I'm so very proud!"

In her lifetime, Sanders has witnessed the Great Depression, the Second World War and the civil rights movement. She first voted for Adlai Stevenson and says she is thrilled to have lived to vote for Obama.

In the meantime, Ogletree speaks of his granddaughters, who are 6, 4 and 9 months. "My granddaughters called me and said poppa we voted. They're seeing a world that was unimaginable."

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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