When Barack Obama takes the stage at Invesco Field in Denver to become the first person of African-American descent to win a major party nomination to be president of the United States tonight, he will be making history.

However, for many of southeastern Wisconsin's male African-American business leaders, tonight will be more than history. It will be a redeeming, spiritual moment to be cherished and passed down through the generations.

Dextra Hadnot, external affairs director at AT&T Wisconsin in Milwaukee, has been watching Obama's ascension closely.

"I've always been optimistic in my lifetime that our country could or would elect a person of color or even a woman president of the United States, and Barack Obama, not just because he is an African-American, he's the right person at the right time," Hadnot said.

"And I'm especially proud of our country and our ability to put people like Barack Obama in position to lead our country."

Ulice Payne Jr., managing member of Addison-Clifton LLC in Brookfield, said he does not yet know what he'll be thinking when Obama accepts the nomination tonight.

However, Payne is looking forward to the moment.

"I am proud as an American and glad to see it happen in my lifetime. I believe this was inevitable because this is the USA, where we support leaders, regardless of their race," Payne said.

Joe Tucker, founder, president and chief executive officer of Victory Personnel Services Inc. in Milwaukee, said he is anxious to hear Obama's acceptance speech.

"I don't know if I believed that it would happen in my lifetime as much as I hoped that it would happen in my lifetime. I certainly believed that it was possible, and that was demonstrated to me by the notion that Colin Powell might run at the time he was considering it," Tucker said. "As far as how I feel about it, what Barack Obama has accomplished and the fact that he is standing at the threshold of the American presidency, for me it reaffirms what I have believed for a long time, and that is this country is not as racially divided as some may suggest. I have always believed for a very long time that we are a better nation and that the racial divide that existed so many years ago is no longer what it used to be. I would sum it up to say this is no longer my grandfather's America. This is my America. I will feel just an enormous sense of pride for country, just a great sense of pride to be an American."

Ruben Hopkins, president and CEO of Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, also believes tonight will affirm his patriotism.

"As an African-American, yes, I did think that this would happen in my lifetime. When I think back, I am reminded of the people who thought they would not see slavery end in their lifetime. I think of all the people who did not believe that they would see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday in their lifetime. And I think about all the other first-time events that have taken place that we thought we would never see in our lifetime. This is framed in the promise that is America. African-Americans have always been key in bringing America back when America has strayed from the founding documents that this country was founded on, even though African-Americans were originally not part of the plan. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and other documents are documents we hold to be self-evident," Hopkins said.

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