The letters, solicited by two University at Buffalo scholars soon after the election, have been compiled into a book, “Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady,” just in time for Tuesday’s inauguration.

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Many in the collection of 100 letters share a universal theme. Paine College President Shirley A.R. Lewis expressed it this way: “Thank you for being such a vital part of this dream that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.”

Women of all ages and backgrounds responded to an Internet call for messages and poems, said the editors, themselves black women. No surprise, given their own feelings of exuberance through the campaign and election.

“I felt such a sisterhood with Michelle Obama and a kinship,” said Barbara Seals Nevergold. “At the end of the election, I started to think, how can we as African-American women share with her our feelings about the new role she’s going to take?”

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