Polling stations have closed in Chicago, the home city of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. And regardless of the outcome, this U.S. election has been historic, especially for African Americans.

65,000 people will attend the official party at Chicago's Grand Park. At the same time, up to a million Obama supporters are also expected to turn up to the event, even if they don't have tickets. They are all eager to show their devotion to the Democratic candidate.

Chicago voters lined up and wait for the polling stations to open even before dawn.

African American William Lee was at his local polling station at five in the morning, determined to cast the first vote on this historic Election Day.
 
The 58-year-old African American remembers a darker segregated America when race dictated right, and where black people were prohibited from voting.

Some five decades later, the retired baker, overwhelmed with pride, has cast a ballot for a Black Presidential candidate.

“I can see that my kids, they can be anything they want to be. And finally it's coming out,” William Lee said.

Obama’s movement of hope and change has broken through racial biases on a national level.

Public opinion indicates that he has diminished the stereotypes cast on African Americans throughout history.

“A lot of people look at the black man and they don't see a man. They see a hoodlum or a thug or a drug addict. But we're not. We're just like anyone else,” William Lee said.

In the 2004 Presidential election, African Americans made up a mere 11 per cent of the vote. This year, officials say a record-breaking number are eagerly turning out at the polls.

Senator Obama's appeal is not limited to race. Voters of all ages, ethnicities and religions wait in lines for hours without complaint.
 
Obama's candidacy turns a page in the history of America for African American citizens like William.

“Every stepping stone we have stepped is a step up. From nothing to where we are at now,” said William Lee.

Now is a time, where inspiration is changing the landscape of politics, and skin color is no longer the barrier it once was.