( CNN ) -- Politicians and historians love to use the word `` crossroads . '' It 's become as American , and cliched , as `` Mom 's apple pie . '' The historian Shelby Foote , wrote , `` The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became , good and bad things . ... It was the crossroads of our being , and it was a hell of a crossroads . '' I have been thinking about the word , because this year 's Black History Month theme is `` At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality : The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington . '' Two pivotal events that shaped modern American history . A `` crossroads '' is literally the intersection of two or more roads -- two or more paths to get to the same place . Metaphorically , it refers to the place -- the moment -- of a critical decision . Shall we go forward together ? Shall we separate ? Shall we fight ? We mark history 's crossroads not by road signs but by the documents that identify them . The Declaration of Independence is certainly one . Who has not memorized the opening of the second paragraph ? `` We hold these truths to be self-evident , that all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights , that among these are Life , Liberty , and the Pursuit of Happiness . '' Political philosopher John Locke 's original term was , `` Life , liberty , and property . '' Thomas Jefferson borrowed the phrase , changing `` property '' to `` the pursuit of happiness . '' He understood that `` happiness '' -- being significant -- was more important than property , and that a `` right to property '' too often meant a `` right '' to own someone else , i.e . slavery . Locke rejected the `` divine right of kings . '' He argued instead that God invested each person with an innate equality -- the right to be on this Earth and to be free -- free to pursue dreams . On the way to his first inauguration , Abraham Lincoln stopped at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to celebrate Washington 's birthday . He told the assembled crowd , `` I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence . '' Lincoln 's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 was another crossroads , one that required Lincoln , and the nation , to walk a long road of personal and national growth . `` All men are created equal '' had to take on a deeper meaning . Frederick Douglass , one of Lincoln 's `` guides '' on his journey , later said the quality he most admired in Lincoln was his political courage . Confederate President Jefferson Davis once acknowledged to an Atlantic Monthly writer that Lincoln 's Emancipation resulted in the self-liberation of `` two millions of our slaves . '' A journey of a hundred years brought us to another crossroads -- the 1963 March on Washington . While `` property in man '' no longer existed , millions of Americans were unable to pursue their dream , or to live with full equality . James Farmer , a leading civil rights activist who was in jail in my home state of Louisiana , sent a message to the quarter-million in attendance that summer day , saying his people would not be free `` until the dogs stop biting us in the South and the rats stop biting us in the North . '' Martin Luther King , Jr. 's `` I Have a Dream '' speech , like the Declaration , resonates . It echoes through the years in the heartbeats of Americans . The `` pursuit of happiness '' is more than pleasure , for we often take great pains in the pursuit . Rather , the pursuit of happiness is the freedom to pursue our dreams , to make meaning in and find the unique significance of our lives . That is something we can only do when , in the bonds of fellowship and shared history , we nurture our dreams . The caged bird sings of freedom , but the freed bird sings of dreams . Today , we are 150 years further down the road to realizing the American creed of equality and freedom . We reached a crossroads in 2008 with the election of our first African-American president . We chose to continue on the road to a `` post-racial '' society . We 're not there yet . But in 2012 , when we could have chosen to travel down another road , one that led to further economic inequality , we chose instead to continue the realization of equality and freedom , and to the unfettered pursuit of dreams for each American . In some ways , the re-election of President Obama is more significant than his election four years ago . I say this not because I 'm a Democrat , but because this time , the dog-whistles of racism were called out and condemned by people of faith and goodwill on both sides of the aisle . During the next four years , we 'll come to more crossroads . I pray , and believe , we will take the road to freedom and equality for each child , man and woman in America . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile .
Locke : Emancipation Proclamation themed crossroads , `` tied to two pivotal U.S. events . Black History Month , March on U.S. were crossroads , she says . She says crossroad decisions are threaded along U.S. road to post-racial society . Brazile : We 're not there yet , but re-election of Washington a harbinger .