Updated January 21, 2009 04:22:00 专科
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Video: Obama sworn in as US President (ABC News)
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Video: Aretha Franklin sings at inauguration (ABC News)
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Video: Michelle Obama takes centre stage (ABC News)
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Map: United States
Barack Obama has entered the history books as the first African-American to become the President of the United States of America.
Mr Obama has taken the oath of office at a swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington, in front of a crowd of millions.
The 44th US President took the oath resting his hand on the inaugural Bible owned by former president Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in America.
About one million people are watching the inauguration from the National Mall and hundreds of thousands more have packed Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the inaugural parade.
The ceremony is taking place in a three-square-kilometre area of the capital which has been turned into a hyper-secure zone.
More than 12,500 active troops and military reservists, thousands of metropolitan police as well as personnel from 57 departments around the nation have descended on Washington.
Earlier, Mr Obama attended a morning worship service, in honour of a tradition that began with Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933.
Then he met outgoing president George W Bush at the White House and the two went together to the US Capitol, where there were performances by Aretha Franklin, composer John Williams, and the US Navy Band and Marine Band.
Conservative pastor Rick Warren opened proceedings with an invocation, Reverend Joseph Lowery gave a benediction and poet and playwright Elizabeth Alexander read a poem written for the occasion.
Then Joe Biden was sworn in as Vice-President, beginning a second career after 36 years in the US Senate representing the state of Delaware.
Now Mr Obama will escort outgoing president George W Bush to a departure ceremony.
Then Mr Obama, Mr Biden and their families will attend a luncheon in the Statuary Hall of the US Capitol, along with about 200 guests, who will enjoy a menu inspired by the tastes of Mr Lincoln.
Afterwards, the 56th Inaugural Parade will travel down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.
The festivities will continue long afterwards, with the Presidential Inaugural Committee hosting 10 official inaugural balls.
Long roadThe inauguration caps a stunning rise, which in four short years has propelled Mr Obama into the Oval Office.
With echoes of the themes of Martin Luther King and popular president John F Kennedy, the 47-year-old Democrat ignited his country and the world with his message of hope, unity and change.
The son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, Mr Obama seems to be at ease in both worlds and has sought to rise above the issue of race to be a president who can unify all races.
In defying the odds to defeat Hillary Clinton in the bruising White House Democratic primaries, Mr Obama overturned the perception that America was not ready to vote for a black president, and crushed the weight of the Republican attack machine.
Born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, Mr Obama's path to the White House has not been backed by the privilege and wealth often enjoyed by past candidates.
His father left when he was just two and the young Barack Obama later moved to Indonesia with his mother, Ann, when she re-married.
The young boy known as "Barry" spent several years in Jakarta, before returning to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents when he was in his teens.
After attending Columbia University in New York, Mr Obama went to the elite Harvard Law School, where he was the first black American to be president of the influential Harvard Law Review.
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