Too excited to sit, Barbara Mosley paced around her Huntley living room until she saw Barack Obama place his hand on the Bible.

"Oh yes! Oh yes!" shouted the smiling, 64-year-old black grandmother and Obama campaign worker, as she pumped her arms in the air and did a little dance in her fleece slippers.

Her living room was filled with friends, both white and black, and decorated with Obama memorabilia, black angel figurines and a chocolate "Yes We Can" cake with an American flag on it. Everyone circled the TV to watch the first black president take the oath of office, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

"Oh my goodness, it's actually happened! He's there! He's the president! It's unbelievable. You guys just don't know. It means so much," Mosley told her guests as she broke down in sobs. "Everything is possible if you trust in God and trust in yourself."

During Obama's inauguration speech, Mosley spontaneously ran up to the TV and hugged it.

Her jubilation and admiration for the new president was shared by suburbanites of all colors Tuesday. But for those who have experienced discrimination, witnessed cross burnings, been addressed with racial slurs, and otherwise been made to feel like second-class citizens, the day held special significance.

Older blacks say the historic day was more about the future than the past.

"What we, as parents, always want for our kids is for them to not have to endure what we endured. You want a better life for them ... and now, they'll have that. This will make them strive to be better and realize we're all important," said William Chapman, 73, of Huntley. "America's gone a long way. In the right direction."

Chapman still remembers a lynching that took place in his Louisiana town when he was a child. A black man was hung for dating a white woman. Chapman's wife, Elease, 64, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in North Carolina and was hauled off to jail for participating in the equal rights demonstration.

Joan Potter, 74, of Huntley, once had to explain to her 4-year-old son why police officers were beating black people.

"I'm glad that I don't have to explain that to my grandkids now," she said. "(Obama's) election proves that we've turned a corner."

At St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Elgin, the Rev. Francis Senyah is seeing a few more white faces in the pews of his predominantly black church, and he's glad. While Obama's presidency still feels "like a dream," the African-born pastor applauds Obama for shattering stereotypes, advancing race relations, and showing young people of all races that they can control their destinies.

"The day-to-day experience of the average black American is still going to be the same. There's still a little bit of racism. Nobody knows when that is going to go away," Senyah said. "But for everybody, there's hope. The dream is possible if you want it ... so if Obama fails, then we've all failed. I'm just so anxious to see how this is all going to play out."