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For the black Americans in Grant Park it was the most wonderful night ever, a night on which their country vaulted over its most enduring and intractable barrier — that of race. “We HAVE overcome,” proclaimed one banner in the mêlée.

“It’s a time when African-American children can dream that they too can become President of the United States,” said Roosevelt Douglas, 68, a retired teacher, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming “Yes We Did”.

“Dr Martin Luther King said ‘I have been to the mountain top’. Right now I feel we are on top of the mountain because Obama has taken us to the place Dr King said we would go.”

“This will break the glass ceilings that prevent black Americans being part of America. If Obama wins, truly anything is possible,” said Mark Wallace, 38, an African-American engineer wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “We still have a Dream”.

“A victory for Obama is a victory for me as an African-American,” said Jeremy Shine, 21, a photographer who had just voted for the first time. “This will inspire so many different people — minorities, women, the young. It says there’s no limitations if you work hard at it.”

Robert Wilson, 35, a bank employee, is bi-racial like Mr Obama. “I’m hoping this will start healing a lot of the racial wounds. This will be the best day of my life, next to my son being born.”

Before yesterday Grant Park was best known as the scene of violent clashes between the police and anti-war demonstrators during the Democratic convention of 1968.

Last night the police were out in force again — this time to ensure that nothing spoiled the celebrations. They shut down surrounding streets, set up miles of barricades, patrolled the skies with helicopters and the shore with patrol boats. The podium where Mr Obama was to deliver his victory speech in the small hours of this morning was encased in bullet-proof glass.

“I think it’s the most amazing moment in history we could ever see,” said Shaun Meadors, 31, a Chicago airport worker who lives near Mr Obama in Chicago’s Hyde Park district.

Chayako Williams, 40, a paralegal, travelled to Chicago from her home in Atlanta to join the mother of all celebrations. “I knew the city would be electric,” she said. “Electing him is definitely going to be a change — a change of attitude. I think the world has really been waiting for the US to be the US again, not a domineering bully. I know I’m ready.”

Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King spoke of his dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’.” Last night — in Chicago at least — America did rise up. Dr King spoke of transforming “the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”. Those present in Grant Park will be able to tell their grandchildren of the moment they first heard that symphony.

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