First Black President Overcomes One Hurdle;   African Americans Face Another By Shauna Jamieson Carty             Mother Josephine Taylor Evans was a college student when she got her first full-time job earning four dollars a week. A white family employed her to live with them to do the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their small child, she said. Today, her great-granddaughter attends college, earns twice as much in just an hour, and faces fewer restrictions because of her race. Their family watched the election, thankful that Americans have overcome racism enough to elect their first black president. Yet, Mother Evans’ family bears a personal loss that is becoming too familiar to American black families.            “As Christians, we have to keep the faith and run this race for a very long time,” Mother Evans wrote in a note about the election. “We have also been singing this song for many years, ‘We shall overcome some day’… Well that day has arrived! Praise the Lord.”            A look at Mother Evans’ family history illustrates a story of progress throughout the generations. She was born in a one-room log cabin in North Carolina in 1916. Her family farmed their own food and sewed her dresses. As a child, she attended a one-room school where children of all ages were taught. Her father labored, chopping wood to scrape together the savings to send her to Fayetteville State College to become a teacher. Financial struggles caused her to leave college after two years and return to the farm to help her parents with sharecropping and caring for her younger siblings.            Decades later, Mother Evans’ daughter, Sister Delores Whitehead, finished college and went on to earn a Master’s degree. She served as a librarian at the Newark Public Library until her recent retirement. Today, Mother Evans’ great-granddaughter Jaide Lee is preparing to graduate with a four-year college degree after only three years. She saved herself a year by taking college courses while she was still in high school. As a member of the National Honor Society, she has been invited to attend incoming President Obama’s inauguration. Her sister Tyra Lee turned eighteen in time to vote for the first time in this election. She is a high school senior and plans to attend college next year.            As the years passed, and opportunities increased for African Americans, not all members of Mother Evans’ family were allowed to live out their dreams. Yet, it was black on black crime, and not racism that stole her grandson’s life. Two years ago, Mother Evans’ grandson was shot in the line of duty as a SWAT team leader. Deputy Joseph Tim Whitehead, Jr. was killed on March 23, 2006, while working for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department in Macon, Georgia. His life ended abruptly at age 36. The incident left the family grieving, with great concern about how violence is claiming the lives of so many sons and daughters in the black community. Violence left two mothers from SecondBaptistChurchgrieving the loss of their sons. Two other sons miraculously survived multiple gunshot wounds. While the tragic incidents were unrelated, they stemmed from youth violence.             Some black youth are excelling and using their education to blaze a trail of success, but others are abandoning their education and succumbing to the ills of drugs and gangs. Youth violence devastates families and destroys communities.             Mother Evans hopes that the election of America’s first black president will inspire young people to study hard and use education to better themselves and improve their communities. “I truly hope that everyone will work for peace and love and understanding and try to make this world a better place where we all are trying to live.”