Abraham Lincoln and the Forging of Modern America

FAIN: BH-50544-13

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (Edwardsville, IL 62026-0001)
Caroline Pryor (Project Director: March 2013 to March 2015)

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.

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. These workshops at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (SIUE) focus on three central themes of Abraham Lincoln's public life: nationalism, leadership, and emancipation and race. Teachers study 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 several sites in Springfield: the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the Lincoln Home, Lincoln's Law Office, the Lincoln Tomb, and the Old State Capitol, as well as the nearby historical reconstruction of New Salem Village, where Lincoln began his study of law and became involved in politics. At the Old State Capitol, for example, participants discuss the "House Divided" speech, which Lincoln delivered there in 1858. They consider how Lincoln's earlier experiences as a Whig in the state legislature shaped his sense of America's national destiny and opposition to slavery that characterized his political career. They 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, Barry Schwartz, Garry Wills, and Lerone Bennett, Jr. In addition to project director Caroline Pryor (education) and her fellow SIUE faculty members Stephen Hansen (history), Jason Stacey (history), and Ivy Cooper (art history), project scholars include Iver Bernstein (Washington University), Sowande' Mustakeem (Washington University), Louis Gerteis (University of Missouri, St. Louis), and Graham Peck (Saint Xavier University), as well as site and museum personnel. The participants attend lecture/discussion sessions and work on lesson plans that are to be posted on a project website.