Dred Scott smiles...

I thought this was an amazing photograph. It was taken at an Obama rally today in Missouri. The white building in the background is the courthouse which was the site of the Dred Scott trial. In the Dred Scott trial, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that African slaves and the descendants of slaves could never be citizens of the United States, that slaves could not sue in court and that slavery would continue to be permitted in federal territories. This decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme court, which upheld it. These events precipitated the Civil War.

Whether you are an Obama supporter or not, you can't deny the power and poignancy of this photo.

"When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." - Martin Luther King, Jr.