As you stood in line to vote Tuesday morning, maybe you felt history’s hand on your shoulder. It was Clarence Mitchell Jr. And maybe you felt another hand, which was Thurgood Marshall’s. Two black men out of West Baltimore, who helped give America a conscience, each of them gone long years now. But maybe you could feel their ghostly presence as you lined up to cast your ballot.

Without them, perhaps there is no Barack Obama story such as this moment’s. Mitchell, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whispering in the ears of the U.S. Congress about simple fairness. And Marshall in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, urging it to let black and white children attend public schools together.