Category: Inauguration 2013

Great are the expectations of President Barack Obama, the historic first African-American president who was inaugurated for his second term on Jan. 21. The momentous hopes and aspirations are especially strong for the African American supporters whose votes made a critical difference in his victorious bid for reelection in 2012. But what will be the […]

They came from all around the world to witness the spectacle of the 57th Presidential Inauguration and they all wanted something to take home with them, a reminder of the time they spent witnessing the swearing in of President Obama and the activities surrounding the event. Those who could provide them a slice of the […]

The state’s Democrats, who were pivotal in Presi¬dent Obama’s reelection in November, converged on National Harbor’s Gaylord hotel on Jan. 20 to celebrate his second inauguration and the role they played in it at the Maryland Inaugural Ball. To cheers from a crowded ballroom, Gov. Martin O’Malley praised the state’s Democratic leadership, volunteers and voters […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Just hours after President Obama was sworn in to his second term, a host of musicians, actors and dignitaries lined the red carpet at BET Networks’ 2013 Inaugural Ball. The black-tie affair, hosted by comedian Wayne Brady was held at the Smithsonian National Art Museum and Portrait Gallery in Northwest D.C. Jan 21. The […]

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — Rejecting calls for him to move closer toward his Republican critics, a confident President Barack H. Obama kicked off his second term on Monday by making an impassioned plea for a more inclusive America. “It is not our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began,” Obama said in his inaugural […]

Celebrating the re-election of President Barack H. Obama and the hip hop culture influence on politics, stars lined the green carpet, in place of the classic red one, leading into the Harman Center in Washington, D.C. for the second Hip Hop Inaugural Ball Sunday night. Dressed in their finest threads, the likes of 2 Chainz, […]

Washington D.C.–What happens when you put boy band Mindless Behavior on stage in a room of thousands of teeny boppers? You get screaming at an unbearable decibel level and one of the electrifying highlights of the 2013 Kids’ Inaugural Concert. Nearly 5,000 young people, and some parents, converged on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center […]

When Gerald Matthews created GeraldMatthewsCollections and G of NY Clothing in 2003, he couldn’t have imagined the big break that would change the direction of that business. Designing and selling custom clothing on the streets of New York and later, D.C., Matthews was commissioned, in 2008, to design the Presidential Inaugural Seal for the 2009 […]

Grammy award nominee Lupe Fiasco was asked to leave the stage of an inauguration event Jan. 20 interrupting an anti-war song by the 31-year-old rapper in a performance that was characterized as “bizarre” and “jarring.” The incident occurred at a pre-inauguration concert in Washington, D.C. at which Fiasco, hired as a headliner for the StartUp […]

In a less high-flown more pragmatic speech than he delivered four years ago, President Obama urged Americans during his second inaugural speech on Jan. 21 to take collective action to solve the nation’s myriad problems. Under a clear blue sky, with temperatures hovering in the mid-40s, hundreds of thousands of men and women gathered on […]

They may be afraid to admit it openly, but many Americans who tuned in to the second inauguration of President Obama were just as excited about seeing what Michelle Obama would wear as they were about hearing the president’s inaugural address. The first lady stunned again in her inimitable style, heading things off with her […]

A showing of a film at Shiloh Baptist Church about America’s failed drug war proved to be a huge inaugural weekend attraction on Jan. 19, with hundreds of people lining up more than 90 minutes before doors opened at the Northwest Washington house of worship. By 11 a.m., a long line snaked around Shiloh, located […]