This Mudcat thread focused on a desire for folk singer Odetta to sing at Barack Obama's inauguration.

The cover of the February 2, 2009 Nation Magazine features artist J.P. Marvoudis' drawing of historical figures who he would have liked to have witnessed Barack Obama's inauguration. That drawing can be seen by clicking here. That link takes you to a dailykos diary written by that artist.

How many of these historical figures do you recognize?*

And if you could draw the people surrounding Barack Obama at his inauguration, who would you draw?

This may be the same question, but by virtue of their life work, which other historical or contemporary individuals or organizations do you think paved the way for Barack Obama to become the 44th president of the USA?

* Spoiler alert, Here's a key identifying the people in the drawings.

I'll add some names in my next post to this thread.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this thread.