ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN)  -- Ann Nixon Cooper sits back in her dining room chair, her eyes closed tight and her lips clenched, when asked if she will attend Barack Obama's inauguration in January.



Ann Nixon Cooper was born in 1902, a time when women and black people were denied the right to vote.



"I could go and maybe would go, but I'm not looking forward to it," says the 106-year-old former socialite.



What if Obama came to her house and asked her in person to attend?



Cooper perks up and a big smile spreads across her face.



"Oh, yes, of course I'm ready to go!"



It's been a whirlwind ever since Obama mentioned the African-American centenarian in his victory speech Tuesday night. Throngs of media -- from the BBC to a Japanese station to national news outlets -- have descended on her Atlanta house. Strangers have stopped by too.



She's taking it all in stride. She stayed up later than usual, until about 3 a.m., after Obama's speech and the phone began ringing off the hook. She had been tipped off by the Obama campaign that he'd say something.



"Somebody told him what to say and what to do and he followed through," she says.  Watch "I'd be proud to meet him as anybody else" »



Cooper -- who was born during a time when women and black people couldn't vote -- fully understands the significance of Obama's victory.



"Things are changing, changing, changing, and I look for more change now that it's the first black president in victory of faith over fear," she says. "Don't you know, that's quite something to be proud of."



What would she tell Obama if she ever meets him?



"I wouldn't have anything special to say about Obama. I enjoyed listening to him, but that's all," she says. "I would be proud to meet him as anyone else."



She and her late husband, prominent dentist Dr. Albert Cooper, raised four children in her house. The home was a center of Atlanta's black society and the scene of many parties. She knew Martin Luther King Jr. when he was just a boy and was close with his mother.



She sometimes refers to Obama as "that young man."



In his victory speech, Obama praised Cooper's fight. The president-elect had learned of her story two weeks earlier after CNN profiled her when she went to the polls to vote early. Obama called her soon afterward.  Watch Obama talk about Cooper in his victory speech »



"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations," Obama told the tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered in Chicago on Tuesday night. "But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing -- Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.



"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.



"And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can."



Cooper watched Obama's speech from her home. "Yeah, I knew he was talking about me -- I had been told that he would be saying these things."  See images of Cooper's early voting extravaganza »



She added that her late husband "would be elated" a black man will be president.



"Yeah, he'd be so tickled to death,
Who would Cooper want to meet? Who has witnessed pivotal moments unfold in U.S history? How old is Ann Nixon Cooper? Where does Cooper live?
Obama Ann Nixon Cooper 106-year-old Atlanta
question: Who would Cooper want to meet?, answer: Obama | question: Who has witnessed pivotal moments unfold in U.S history?, answer: Ann Nixon Cooper | question: How old is Ann Nixon Cooper?, answer: 106-year-old | question: Where does Cooper live?, answer: Atlanta