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historynow@gilderlehrman.org
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From: Pete Jones
Question:
Ms. Kline--
Could you please direct me to sources that would help
me trace Lincoln's journey from Springfield to New York
City for his Cooper Union speech? I thank you in advance
for any reply you are able to make.
Best regards,
Pete Jones
Wabash, Indiana
Answer: Dear Mr. Jones:
For general background on the Cooper Union speech,
read:
Holzer, Harold. Lincoln at Cooper Union : the speech
that made Abraham Lincoln president. New York :
Simon & Schuster, 2004.
For the specifics of Lincoln’s travel to New
York (or, indeed,what Lincoln did on any day of his
life), you can choose between the print and online editions
of “Lincoln Day by Day”:
United States. Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission.
Lincoln day by day; a chronology, 1809-1865.
Earl Schenck Miers, editor-in-chief. Washington, 1960.
On the Internet, it’s known as the “Lincoln
Log”
http://www.thelincolnlog.org/view
From:
Teresa Carrasquillo
Question: Dear Dr. Kline--
I would like to find a clear answer to the rumor that
Abraham Lincoln was of African American decent. I have
searched the web and do not find any credible sites
stating this inquiry. Can you help me find where to
look or can you provide the answer to me? I am very
curious and would not like my children learning things
from the wrong sources.
Thank you,
Teresa Carrasquillo
Answer: Dear
Ms. Carrasquillo:
This is the generally accepted answer to the question
of Lincoln’s racial background:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_Abraham_Lincoln_an_African_American
Nearly fifty years ago, the journalist and historian
Carl Lomax estimated that anyone who boasts an ancestor
who came to the United States more than two hundred
years ago probably has at least one African American
ancestor in her or his family tree. This may have been
true of Lincoln. Or of me. In neither case, however,
were we aware of this or raised with any consciousness
of this part of our cultural heritage.
I think that President Lincoln and I would cheerfully
join President Obama, in calling ourselves American-bred
“mutts.”
Mary-Jo Kline
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