The people’s inauguration

President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office on January 20, and increasingly it seems that the inauguration will be even more historic than anyone thought.

Besides the obvious fact that Obama will be the first US president of color, the inauguration week activities announced thus far are unprecedented in their inclusiveness.

Private citizens, businesses, and public interest groups are also making the inauguration their own.

The online book publisher WeBook is inviting writers to document their experiences of the inauguration as part of a “community-sourced history” project. Fifty to seventy-five of the best essays (250-500 words each) will be selected for inclusion in an anthology called Jan. 20 2009: True Stories, Real People, One Day.

The deadline for submissions is midnight (EST) on January 21. Selection of essays will begin immediately, and publication of the book is scheduled to occur within two weeks of the inauguration. The books will be sold for $9.99 USD on Amazon and on WeBook’s own website.

And what’s really cool?

All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to 826 National, a non-profit literacy organization helping kids between the ages of six and eighteen.

You can find out more about the WeBook project here.

And if you want to learn about some other “firsts” in inaugural history, check out this video: