Obama Marks One Year in Office Wednesday; Emancipation Proclamation Hung in Oval Office

It was not.

That's why the White House brought together some African American seniors -- the oldest, Joseph Harvey, is 105 years old -- with some of their children and grandchildren on the national holiday celebrating the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Obama and his family also marked King Day by volunteering at a Washington soup kitchen, visiting the American Red Cross and attending the "Let Freedom Ring Celebration" at the Kennedy Center in the evening.

Seated around a long table in the Roosevelt Room, the special guests, all of whom lived through the great civil rights battles, shared stories.

Obama related after the session that Mabel Harvey, 101, wife of Joseph, had whispered in his ear as the group of 13 entered, "This must be the Lord's doing, because we've come a mighty long way."

"This is a living history," said the president, who on Wednesday marks one year in office, the first African American president in the nation's history. Born in 1961, Obama was a baby when King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington in 1963; a tad older during the voting rights marches in Alabama in 1965; and a youngster when King was gunned down in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

Among those present Monday at the White House were author Taylor Branch, whose latest book is "The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President." Branch has written extensively about the civil rights movement and penned "Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63," which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Obama said that during the inter-generational discussion Branch shared "a really interesting idea, which is that not only is Dr. King's birthday a time to celebrate service, to reflect and study on how we had helped to perfect our union, but that it should be a day in which each of us individually also try to stretch out of our comfort zones and try to do something for others and to reach out and learn about things that maybe we've shied away from -- because part of what the civil rights movement was all about was changing people's hearts and minds and breaking out of old customs and old habits."

First Lady Michelle Obama was there, as was the suburban Chicago couple who are the godparents to Malia, 11 and Sasha, 8: Wellington and Kaye "Mama Kaye" Wilson. "Mama Kaye" is a good friend of Mrs. Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, and often helped take care of the Obama daughters while their parents were on the presidential campaign trail. Last June, Obama named her to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. Also in the room: Joshua Dubois, the Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships director; White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett; and Rob Nabors, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

After the discussion on the civil rights movement, the group toured the Oval Office, where a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation was hung on Monday, on loan from the Smithsonian Institution. It will be there for six months and then moved to the Lincoln Bedroom, where Lincoln signed it on Jan. 1, 1863.

King Day has evolved into an occasion for volunteering. In the morning, the president, Mrs. Obama, their daughters and Mrs. Robinson donned green aprons and served up a meal at the Washington soup kitchen So Others Might Eat.

From the pool report:

Mrs. Obama walked around pouring coffee with Sasha. "See if anyone else wants coffee," she instructed her daughter as they served guests, asking each how they were doing. Mrs. Robinson and Malia walked around with platters, asking guests -- eating barbecued chicken, potato salad, cornbread and assorted Danish -- if they needed more of anything.

Obama, who has been consumed with dealing with the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, also visited an American Red Cross Disaster Operation Center in Washington.

In the evening, the First Family and Mrs. Robinson and Jarrett were at the Kennedy Center "Let Freedom Ring Celebration," co-hosted with Georgetown University and featuring India.Arie, the singer songwriter whose latest is "Love&Politics."