While I am not ignoring any of the history of African-Americans, I am summarizing and focusing on political changes of the last half century that paved the road to this year's election.

Starting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 19, 1953, Baton Rouge, African Americans begin a boycott of their city’s segregated municipal bus line. A year later on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education declares segregation in all public schools in the United States unconstitutional, nullifying the earlier judicial doctrine of “separate but equal.”

It was during this same decade that the unknown woman turned civil rights symbol, Rosa Parks, refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white man, initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Soon afterwards Dr. Martin Luther King became the leader of the boycott.

The 1960s brought more change for African Americans. On February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro began a sit-in at Woolworth’s Drug Store to protest company policy, which banned African Americans from sitting at its counters.

Then, on April 15 of the same year, 150 black and white students gathered at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. This was one of the first coalitions of its kind.

Events like these led to the Civil Rights Act of 1960. It was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 6.

The act established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduces penalties for anyone who obstructs a citizen’s attempt to register to vote or to cast a ballot.

Two year later on October 1, 1962, James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. On the day he entered the university, he was escorted by U.S. marshals after federal troops are sent in to suppress rioting and maintain order.

And one state over, despite Governor George Wallace’s vow to “block the schoolhouse door” to prevent their enrollment on June 11, Vivian Malone and James Hood register for classes at the University of Alabama. They are the first African American students to attend the university.

More than 200,000 people gather in Washington, D.C. on August 28 as part of the March on Washington, an unprecedented demonstration demanding civil rights and equal opportunity for African Americans. Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his “I Have a Dream Speech” here.

King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4. In the wake of the assassination, 125 cities in 29 states experience uprisings. By April 11, 46 people were killed and 35,000 are injured in these confrontations.

King’s death sent a shockwave through communities of all races, genders and ethnicities, and it was a milestone date that many believed was unparalleled until 1990.

On February 11 of that year, Nelson Mandela, South African black nationalist, was freed after 27 years in prison.

His work against apartheid in that country is considered by many to be as significant as Dr. King’s work in America. His release date was celebrated world wide.

In 1968, according to the Tuskegee Institute, the total number of African-Americans Lynched since 1882 reached 3,445.

A decade later, more political figures made notable strides for the black community.

In January of 2001 President-elect George Bush nominated Colin Powell to be Secretary of State.

And during his next term, Condoleezza Rice became the Secretary of State. She was the first African American woman to hold the post.

And last week, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States.

So What Now?

So we won, we had our time to gloat. Now it’s time to get to work. More importantly it is crucial that we remember what this election called for, change and bipartisanship.

While we were celebrating and rubbing noses in our victory, one gentleman had a very good observation.

Joe Scarborough, former congressman and host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said something interesting.

He stated,

That politics has turned into such a blood sport over the past 16 years says less about the politicians who have run this country than the political commentators who launched such hysterical attacks.

These days, subtlety of thought is a scarce commodity in public discourse.

It took me a few years in Congress to figure out my party didn't own exclusive rights to the truth. That realization was liberating and allowed me to focus more directly on what was in the best interests of America instead of the Republican Party.

Had more GOP leaders thought that way, the party of Reagan would not be in shambles this morning.

But it is, so what's next?

A good start might be to stand for something and then to commit to disagreeing without being disagreeable.

It may sound radical, but I think we have no choice.

It is critical for the American people that we all work together, not so we may find a new destiny, not so we may see prosperity, but so we may merely survive.

I call on all my fellow Democrats to take this opportunity to use victory as a platform to reach out and to work together with the Republicans to achieve great things for America, rather than gloat or take vengeance.