Discours du président Barack Obama à la 100ème convention de la NAACP le 16 juillet 2009 (Video/Transcript)

President Obama honors civil rights pioneers with speech at NAACP centennial convention

President Obama, in a rousing address to the NAACP Thursday night, paid tribute to the civil rights pioneers who made his historic presidency possible and declared the legacy of discrimination "must not stand."

"Because ordinary people made the civil rights movement their own, I made a trip to Springfield [Ill.] a couple years ago - where Lincoln once lived, and race riots once raged - and began the journey that has led me here tonight as the 44th President of the United States of America," Obama said to thunderous applause from the adoring crowd.

"I'm here to say thank you to those pioneers and thank you to the NAACP," he said.

His gratitude was reflected in a speech delivered with a passion and soaring oratory not seen or heard since last year's campaign. He recalled his visit just last week to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, where slaves were assembled and put on ships for the Americas.

"I was reminded of all the pain and all the hardships, all the injustices and all the indignities on the voyage from slavery to freedom," Obama said.

"But I was also reminded of something else. I was reminded that no matter how bitter the rod or how stony the road, we have persevered."