Melissa Harris-Lacewell is associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University. She is the author of the award-winning book "Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought" and writes a daily blog titled The Kitchen Table.



Melissa Harris-Lacewell says African-Americans remain skeptical about racial progress in the U.S.



PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- America was proud of itself for electing Barack Obama. The pride was not just partisan and ideological; it was also specifically and clearly racial.



The morning after Obama's win, The New York Times declared "Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory." The Los Angeles Times asserted that "for the first time in human history, a largely white nation has elected a black man to be its paramount leader."



Some black commentators openly wept on election night, thrilled with witnessing the election of our first black president. Even Sen. John McCain, conceding defeat, pointed to the greatness of the American promise fulfilled in the election of his opponent. Obama's victory offered the possibility that the scars of America's racial legacy were healed or, at least, that they were less raw.



For many African-American citizens, the election of the first black U.S. president was cause for celebration and open-mouthed wonder about an outcome that seemed so unlikely just two years earlier, when Obama announced his bid.



Despite this joy, many black citizens were dubious that his victory represented the destruction of any particular racial barrier.



African-Americans were both proud of and excited about Obama, but in the 45 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, black Americans had seen doors to power, influence and wealth open just enough to admit just a few without fundamentally altering opportunities for the majority.



Indeed, responses to a recent CNN/Essence Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. survey indicate that black enthusiasm about Obama exists side-by-by side with deep skepticism about America's racial progress.



This atmosphere of both enthusiasm and doubt has sparked discussion about whether we have entered a post-racial era in American politics.



It is a difficult debate, because the term "post-racial" is not clearly defined. Race itself is a slippery idea. Typically, we treat race like a fixed, unchanging, biological category. But race is none of these things.



Race is a social construct. Though it is based in physical traits, race is a category developed through social practice, law and history. As a nation, we made blackness through our politics, developing a category of people who could be enslaved and later segregated.



So when we talk of a post-racial America, we are not pointing to the massive demographic shifts that are unalterably changing the racial, ethnic and linguistic landscape of America. Instead, "post-racial" is an expression of social and political longing.



For most, this means an America free of racism and discrimination, but others seem to hint at a society entirely free of racial identity or recognition.



The idea of a post-racial America has been upheld as an achievable ideal where people would receive equal treatment and fair outcomes regardless of their race.



It has been critiqued as an impossible dream unlikely to exist in a nation with a history of slavery and legal discrimination.



It has been denounced as an unworthy goal that would require black Americans to reject their cultural specificity and unique social and political concerns.



Undoubtedly, the 2008 election broke formerly entrenched racial trends. Obama was elected just as the depth and breadth of the American economic crisis was becoming clear. Some suggested that his victory could be explained by the nation's fiscal difficulties because he was the candidate of the out-party, which often wins when times are hard. But this analysis forgets the cross-cutting history of race.



When the economic pie shrinks, Americans rarely form multiracial political coalitions led by minority candidates. Obama's victory countered the trend toward racial balkanization more typical in tough economic times.



The changing dynamics of racial politics were further evidenced when Obama won both Virginia and
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