In Mississippi, Scott Colom Supporters Celebrate Historic Senate Win

Elections|At a Civil Rights Landmark, a Night of Jubilation Over Colom’s Victory

On the lawn of Tougaloo College, steps from the chapel where the civil rights leaders Fannie Lou Hamer and Medgar Evers gave speeches, they danced.

Students from Tougaloo and other nearby historically Black institutions lined the sidewalk to cheer and applaud. Members of Black fraternities and sororities, dressed in their letters and colors, embraced one another. “Thank the Lord, we did it,” one woman declared.

It was a day that many had prayed would come, though they could never know when. That evening, Scott Colom made their hopes a reality, speaking in front of the college chapel as the senator-elect from Mississippi.

Tyler Dotson, 21, a freshman at Tougaloo College, was awe-struck. “It was everything,” he said, describing how it felt to hear that Mr. Colom had won. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”

When the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi was called for Mr. Colom, who will become the first Black senator from the state since the Reconstruction era, shouts of celebration erupted at the local N.A.A.C.P. office.