IPSWICH celebrated the historic election of Barack Obama in style as the new President of the United States prepares to take office at The White House.

Tom Potter

IPSWICH celebrated the historic election of Barack Obama in style as the new President of the United States prepares to take office at The White House.

Three local groups, Nia Project, Arts La'Olam, and Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality, organised the event at the Sanctuary restaurant in the St Nicholas Centre.

Revellers enjoyed music, dance and spoken word from local artists, as well as a film presented by CSVmedia, music, dance and spoken words from local artists.

Daisy Lees, from Colchester Black History Month, helped organise the event over the weekend.

She said: “The celebration was a chance for people to get together and share their joy.

“People came from Colchester especially for the celebration and it gave people an outlet to express their excitement at this time of change.”

Hamil Clarke MBE, former mayor and chair of the Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality, spoke on the day about his experience as a black councillor and how there is still an underrepresentation of black people in positions of local government.

His sentiment was made even more powerful by Ipswich solicitor Chris Cumberbatch, who read his poem, November 5, to the crowd.

Del White, from the Nia Project, went to New York to help out with the campaign at Obama's headquarters.

She said: “It would be naïve to think he will change everything overnight, but his arrival has surpassed the idea of colour and embraced Martin Luther King's concept that one day people will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Will the election of a black president change your life? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.