Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, grew up in the Upstate and still lives there, not far from Bob Jones University, which didn't allow interracial dating until 2000.

In Graham's part of the world, folks still fly the Confederate flag, which remains displayed on the grounds of the Statehouse in Columbia.

Yet Graham, who was one of McCain's most ardent supporters in the presidential election, also represents a state whose population is 30 percent black, and one that cast 45 percent of its votes for Obama — a good bit more than it had cast for Kerry or Gore.

Graham is looking forward to having a front row seat to history on Jan. 20 when he'll join other lawmakers near the podium outside the U.S. Capitol, where Obama will place his hand on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration in 1861.

"There's a lot of pride throughout my state, quite frankly from all quarters," Graham said. "Barack Obama is a very talented politician. I will be sitting as a member of Congress when he takes the oath. This is a milestone in American history that we should all celebrate."

(Lisa Zagaroli, Halimah Abdullah and Barbara Barrett contributed to this article.)

More than half of all African-Americans — about 20.5 million — live in the South. All but one of the 10 states with the highest concentrations of blacks, plus the District of Columbia, are Southern states:

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