In Times Square in New York, piercing howls of joy, dancing and chants of "Obama! Obama!" broke out as gigantic television screens relayed the dramatic victory.

Police struggled to keep control as the crowd spilled into the road.

"This is an amazing, historic moment for America. I've seen some really dark times over the last eight years," said Andrew Bernard, a film production designer who came out with his 10-year-old son Lincoln.

"I wanted my son to come and see the shining light."

In Chicago, a crowd of 65,000 packed into a downtown park for Obama's election party went wild with joy.

Amid a sea of US flags, camera flashes exploded as far as the eye could see and the mixed crowd of young and old danced, hugged and screamed as the first African-American in history succeeded with his bid for the White House.

Chants of "Yes we can!" and "Obama! Obama!" rang into the air.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who himself sought the presidency in 1984 and 1988 but failed to win the Democratic nomination, was seen shedding tears of happiness.

"Today I am proud to be a black American," cheered Rosemary Morris as she sat with two friends at the foot of a statue on the park's edge.

"This is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful day."

Over a million people were expected in the area of the party in Grant Park, where 65,000 tickets were made available for supporters to listen to Obama give his victory speech.

On either side of the lectern where he spoke, bullet-proof plexiglass screens could be seen - the first time his campaign has employed such protection.

Outside the park, the crowd counted down to the closing of polls in West coast states - Five! Four! Three! Two! One! - after which the 47-year-old Illinois senator was declared winner by all US television networks.

In the capital Washington, DC, television pictures showed people dancing and singing on a corner of a street chosen in advance for celebrations given its symbolic location as a centre of 1968 race riots that swept the city.

Street celebrations were also seen in the black area of Harlem in New York as well as Atlanta, Georgia in the deep south of the United States.

In the Finnigan's Wake bar in the city of Philadelphia, crowds of Obama supporters roared deafeningly when his win in the state was announced earlier in the night, and started chanting "It's all over".

Police were taking no chances with security in Chicago, setting up a tight cordon around the park, shutting down streets, setting up barricades and patrolling the skies with police helicopters and the shoreline with harbor patrol boats.

"I definitely think this is history in the making," said black truck driver Mitchell Rashada who did not get a ticket but camped out in Grant Park from early morning in the hope of being close to his candidate.

Earlier in Chicago, Roby Clark, a 92-year-old African-American who suffered racial slurs and harassment while serving in the army and living in the south, could hardly believe he would be able to vote for a black candidate for president.

"Through God's blessings, I think we're gonna get him," Clark said as he stood outside a Baptist church on the south side of the city waiting to cast his ballot.

AFP