New York City exploded when Barack Obama was called as the victor Tuesday night. Harlem, Fort Greene, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Times Square, all these places and more, filled with people celebrating Obama’s win. These images are from Union Square approximately half an hour after Obama delivered his victory speech. The sounds of whooping and cheering could be heard for blocks, reverberating off the concrete and glass of the surrounding buildings. New York wasn’t alone. A quick search on flickr turned up more than 20,000 photographs uploaded since Wednesday morning of gatherings all over the country, from Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, etc. This was a deeply moving sight to behold, an expulsion of eight years of frustration and anger in a single, affirming moment. It was as if even Americans had doubts about our nation’s ability to achieve greatness, to rise above. The celebration was raucous because we proved ourselves wrong, and have begun healing the damage done by the Bush presidency.