History

James Estrin/The New York Times

NYTimes:

At Eagle Academy, an all-boys school in Brooklyn, pupils watched a replay of Barack Obama’s victory speech on Wednesday. And when it was over, the principal of Eagle Academy, where boys are divided into groups named for famous black figures like Thurgood Marshall and Duke Ellington, asked them to sum it up in one word.

“Heartwarming,” one said. “Outstanding,” offered another. “Magnificent.” “Amazing.”

The 30-year-old principal, Rashad Meade, pushed his protégés, asking why they thought this speech, this moment, was so important — why he had rearranged classes to show the video, why their parents had woken them the night before. Isaiah Purcell, who is 11, started to say something about the issues, then trailed off. He picked up again, asserting that Mr. Obama’s ascendancy to the White House “makes us think that we could accomplish anything when you put your mind to it.”