At 87, the Rev. Curtis W. Harris, a local lion of the civil rights movement, has seen a lot of things firsthand, but never a State of the Union address.
Until tonight.
Harris, who is serving his seventh term on the Hopewell City Council, was invited to President Barack Obama's address by Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.
"It's a great day for me," said Harris, who has struggled with his health since suffering a stroke a year ago.
Harris, who became Hopewell's first black mayor in 1998, spent much of the 1960s and '70s picketing, marching, confronting Ku Klux Klansmen, filing lawsuits and occasionally getting tossed in jail while fighting for equality.
In 1986, after seven failed bids, he was elected to Hopewell's City Council.
"But for folks like Curtis Harris, there would never have been a President Barack Obama," said Warner, who offered Harris his one extra ticket after hearing that Harris, who uses a wheelchair, had been in poor health.
"I just thought there might not be too many more chances for him to see President Obama," Warner said.
It's a gesture much appreciated by Harris and his family.
"It's very meaningful to him," said his Harris' daughter, Joanne Harris Lucas.
"Of course, Obama is very symbolic of his work in the civil rights movement. For us to have an African-American president is a huge victory for him," she said, "and to be able to be present at his State of the Union address is another real victory."
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