Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America

FAIN: BH-50415-11

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (Edwardsville, IL 62026-0001)
Caroline Pryor (Project Director: March 2011 to April 2014)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on Abraham Lincoln and his role in American history, using sites in and near Springfield, Illinois.

"Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America" consists of two one-week NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops held during summer 2012 for eighty school teachers on Abraham Lincoln and his role in American history, using sites in and near Springfield, Illinois. The program investigates four central themes of Abraham Lincoln's public life: nationalism, power, freedom, and race. The project considers such subjects as nationalism and politics in the Civil War era; Lincoln, slavery, and race; Lincoln and the Constitution; Lincoln, the radicals, and Emancipation; Walt Whitman and Lincoln; visual art on Lincoln and the war, using images from the NEH's Picturing America portfolio; African-American women's experiences as an example of racial issues; and Lincoln's legacy. Participants visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Lincoln Home, Lincoln's Law Office in Springfield, Illinois, and the historical reconstruction of New Salem Village, where Lincoln began his career. Teachers also explore the exhibit "Lincoln and the Constitution," on display at the Lovejoy Library. Participants read writings by Lincoln, including the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, the Second Inaugural Address, and selected letters; writings by African-American women; and secondary works by Eric Foner, David Donald, John Stauffer, James McPherson, Philip Shaw Paludan, David Potter, Barry Schwartz, Garry Wills, and Lerone Bennett, Jr. The staff includes project director Caroline Pryor (education, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville [SIUE]); historians Stephen Hansen (SIUE), Iver Bernstein (Washington University), Leslie Brown (Williams College), Jason Stacey (SIUE), and Laura Milsk-Fowler (SIUE); art historian Ivy Cooper (SIUE); and site and museum personnel.

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