Obama Begins Inaugural Parade

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 20, 2009 2:50 PM CST
Obama Begins Inaugural Parade
People wait in the street for access to open to the planned route of the inaugural parade of President-elect Barack Obama Tuesday, January 20, 2009, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Barack Obama's motorcade is on its way to the White House, heading a parade that pays homage to pioneers who paved the way for the nation's first black president. Re-enactors of a black Civil War regiment, World War II's surviving Tuskegee Airmen, and Freedom Riders who battled for civil rights are assembled to follow Obama's limousine on its way down Pennsylvania Avenue.

More than 13,000 people from all 50 states will travel the parade route, which has been jammed with onlookers since dawn. Among the marching bands and military units are acrobats and even a drill team pushing whimsically decorated lawn mowers. (More Barack Obama stories.)

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