‘Had to pinch myself’ — A black man elected president?

It's still sinking in.

In North Philadelphia today at the aptly named Hope Plaza shopping center, people shook their heads and grinned in a kind of Christmas-morning wonderment.

They'd awakened to the news that a black man was president. A black man.

Envision the face of a person who's seen a comet, an angel and a miracle, and you'd get the sense of how that particular piece of information was registering in the eyes at Hope on the day after Barack Obama became president-elect.

"My mom's still trying to take it in," said a giddy Floyd Colemen, 52, outside the Thriftway supermarket on Lehigh Avenue. "She's 85. I told her, 'Mom, a black man is president. You lived long enough to see this.'

"She's a sharecropper's daughter from Virginia whose people were slaves. And Virginia voted for Barack.

"Let me tell you, there were tears in her eyes."

Coleman's friend, Fayard Stokes, 45, who wore an Obama T-shirt, could not comprehend the fact that more than half the country voted for Obama.

"I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming," he said. "He's president? What?

"As an African American man, this changes the way I look at this country. "

Will Summers, 50, agreed. "A lot of white people voted for him. It makes me feel like racism in America is not as bad as I thought."

That idea percolated among the men, who said they've seen so much race hate in their time, they couldn't have realistically imagined this.

"Oh my God, how can I explain to you what this means in just a day?" Coleman said. "The U.S. will be run by a black man. I can't get past that."

Then Coleman broke the mood of awe to make a joke: "Watch, every black man will want to be in politics now."

The three men laughed, then shook hands and departed.

Meanwhile, over in West Philadelphia, Pamela Stokes (no relation to Fayard), a 45-year-old homemaker, pointed out that Obama is as white as he is black.

"It's not just a black thing," she said, carrying groceries into her rowhouse off 33rd Street. "Obama's a man to help all of us people out here.

"I feel good. It's a joy. Now, we all need to stand together."

That shouldn't be a problem for many of us, noted Carolyn Marvin, professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

"It's so clear the country is ready for him," she said.

The notion of a fresh start was evident Election Night, when the soon-to-be president stood with his family in Chicago's Grant Park.

"Every new president is a symbol of re-birth, and that symbol was made concrete by the sight of that lovely family with those young children," Marvin said. "All the renewal symbolism is terribly important in a tough world."

When vice president-elect Joe Biden's grandchildren also climbed on stage, we saw the embodiment of more important symbolism, Marvin said.

"That's Martin Luther King's dream, of white and black children together," she said.

Obama's election has had another important effect, said Sharon Hale-Jenkins, 54, an administrative assistant at the Franklin Institute.

"There is a feeling among some black people that we are 'less than,' or inferior," she said, explaining that centuries of racism alter the way a people think of themselves.

"But there is a different feeling now, after this election," Hale-Jenkins said. "It is, 'We belong here.' It's got a lot of African Americans - especially the men - holding their shoulders proudly."

Obviously, African Americans weren't the only people sharing in the joy of the day.

Kirsten Speidel, 43, of Havertown, said the election left her elated.

"He's a symbol for what's possible," said Spiedel. "

The president doesn't have to be a white male. And he can be young, without a lot of money to start with."

Yesterday, Temple University junior Alex Hochner, 21, was still feeling the effects of voting in his first presidential election.

"I've always had this sense of dread that nothing gets better," he said. "But now there's hope. There's actually a chance of changing the bad practices of government."

Hochner said youth participation in the election was heartening and energizing.

"That something political is generating this much excitement is ridiculous," he said. "Ridiculously good."

The good feeling was shared at Bryn Mawr College, where sophomore Molly Parzen, 20, was riding a wave of euphoria.

"It's been wild and surreal," she said. "It's a massive historic moment.

"I really think it's a turning point for us as a nation."