At 18, he crawled two miles through Texas cotton fields to escape the Ku Klux Klan. She remembers traveling through the night because no motel would have them. When the Jacksons, both 85 and married for 66 years, bought their Salt Lake City home in the mid-1950s, four neighbors picked up and left.

"For a long time, the white man thought we didn't know nothing about nothing," said James, his Obama baseball cap resting on his knee, his gaze glued Monday afternoon to CNN. "If I were to tell you what we went through to get here, you wouldn't believe it."

Earning the right to vote, something they couldn't do until they were in their 40s, was just part of the journey. The Rev. France Davis, of Salt Lake City's Calvary Baptist Church, was 19 in 1965 when he marched from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama to help make this happen.

"Our expectations were that African-Americans, and other people of color, would be able to participate in the process. I never expected to see in my lifetime a viable candidate who would be named by any of the major political parties," he said. "I'm looking forward to the future."

The Jacksons, too, were looking forward but didn't expect to stay up late enough to see the final results. "I'm going to pray about it and go to bed," Ida said with a laugh.

Larry Boyce, 37, on the other hand, had no intention of sleeping. He was leaving a Salt Lake City barbershop Tuesday afternoon, his jacket adorned with campaign stickers, a poster for his candidate rolled up in his hands. Barack Obama's presidential run, and win, is changing "how society sees us," the father of six said. "There's no limit to where you can go as a minority in America."

In Taylorsville Tuesday night, Paulette Cross, 62, surrounded herself with friends to watch the results come in. The dining room table spilled over with food. The sparkling cider was free-flowing. A life-sized Obama cutout stood to greet visitors as they walked in the door.

"I'm proud of America," said Cross, an education doctoral student at the University of Utah. "I never thought I'd see the day where white people would vote for a black person for the highest office in the United States."

Her support for Obama, like so many others in Utah's black community, was less about his skin color than "what he stands for," she said. She doesn't have health insurance. She substitute teaches in elementary schools and has watched how even young immigrant children look to Obama for inspiration.

Cross was on the phone with her 38-year-old son, who lives in Sacramento, when CNN projected this nation's 44th president. After she hurriedly hung up and hugged her nearest friend, she sat dumbfounded, her hand to her mouth and her eyes wide and welling.

"Oh my goodness. Who would have ever thought?" she muttered. "This is a new time for America. This is a new day."

Soon, she and others were plotting ideas of a possible trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the January inauguration.

"I said to my girls, 'This is history. You're going to be talking about this with your children,' " said Sandra Hollins, as her two teen daughters stood by and her husband doled out bear hugs, even to strangers.

Though the Jacksons may have been sleeping while others celebrated, they will open their eyes this morning to a new reality. But James already knew that change for younger generations, including his and Ida's six great-grandchildren, was coming.

"We've come a long ways," he said, with a nod toward the television footage of Obama. "We get this man in here, they might have a good life."

jravitz@sltrib.com

Reactions from Utah's black community

"It's mind blowing. It's awesome...It's changing the way the world sees black people and changing the way black people see themselves...We really are the same. The American dream is there for everyone." Erica Richardson, 26, University of Utah's Black Student Union president

"The truth is I believed in my heart that he was going to win... I knew this day was coming. I just believe that Americans are good people and will live out [the country's] creed in due time. This is a fulfillment." H.C. Massey, 70, Ogden

"All of us, of different colors, we've had to trust that the white man will do the right thing by us. Why people would feel that an African-American person would not be willing to do right by them is beyond me... I would like to think that this country has grown to a point that we would not see color first but see the goodness that someone can do." Dorothy Anderson, 61, Murray

"We can now finally turn the page on the issue of race in America. And I don't think race can be used now as an excuse for success or failure." James Evans, Salt Lake County Republican Chairman