Lincoln Bicentennial

Happy 200th, Mr. Lincoln

Springfield's favorite son, Abraham Lincoln, is the center of attention as the world celebrates the 200th anniversary of his birth today. Events are going on through the 22nd throughout central Illinois, which culminates with an appearance by President Barack Obama this evening after his much touted appearance at Caterpillar in Peoria. The President will speak briefly at a Lincoln banquet at the Crowne Plaza hotel. The banquet is of course sold out.

Having lived several years in Springfield and most of my life in nearby Jacksonville, I have had the honor job of tour guide of the Lincoln sites for many friends and family members. My favorite local Lincoln site would have to be Lincoln's Tomb. Once you are inside the burial room, it is dark and a little creepy. The large monument does not contain the 16th President. He is buried very deep below.

Along the south wall of the burial room are five crypts containing the remains of Mrs. Lincoln and three of Lincoln's four sons (his eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery).

According to the State Journal-Register, “Reflections: The American Funeral,” a mobile exhibit on funeral traditions, will be at the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site in Oak Ridge Cemetery through Sunday. A special feature is a reproduction of Abraham Lincoln’s casket with a tracing of his nearly three-week-long funeral procession. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Sunday. Here are some great shots of Lincoln's Tomb, but there is plenty more to see.

....U.S. National Historic Landmark (left)

The model of the sculpture at the Lincoln Memorial in Lincoln’s Tomb’s rotunda.



Inside the crypt burial room.

For all the 411 on the Lincoln events, check out the Springfield's State Journal-Register's Bicentennial page (http://www.sj-r.com/bicentennial). When you get the chance, be sure and visit Springfield!

Obama's Admiration for Lincoln (Sorry to burst your bubble)

We know President-elect Obama did some studying on Lincoln. So why then, would he admire him so much? Maybe it's because most Americans probably don't know much about Lincoln, and he's taken that and ran with it. The majority surely thinks that Lincoln freed the slaves. I can remember during my childhood asking, "why was Lincoln such a great president?" And I was always told, "because he abolished slavery, or he freed the slaves." Well, there is a little more to it than that, as I later learned.

One of my first jobs, when I moved to Springfield back in 1981 was at the Lincoln Souvenir and Gift Shop on Monument Avenue right in front of the entry gates to Oakland Cemetery, home of Lincoln's Tomb. The log cabin style gift shop had everything "Lincoln" that you could imagine, including many books.

I remember glancing through some of those books that seemed contrary to what I thought I knew about Lincoln. For example, there is a sometimes forgotten quote from 1858 that "Abraham Lincoln was a 19th century white man who famously said that "there is a physical difference between the white and black races, which ... will forever forbid the two races living together upon terms of social and political equality."

That quote is part of the nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts' latest article. Be sure and click the title link to read the complete article, "Lincoln might not have welcomed Obama's election." Even better, it has a short video (3:48 min.) of Mr. Pitts commentary about the mythological Lincoln. Watch it before it's gone!

Anyway, back to my time at the gift shop. I loved working there and learned so much about Lincoln. I was so only 19, and the other nine staff were all in their 50's and 60's. They were all women, except for the owner and they all took me under their wing. I was especially close to one of the women and she was so much like my grandma that lived far away.

She loved sharing her knowledge of Lincoln and would have me over to her nearby house on the same street for homemade pie, cake, or cookies quite often. That's when she should would tell me the true Lincoln lore that she had learned during her lifetime in Springfield--things she couldn't say at work.

"Lincoln really didn't free the slaves," she said. What! I guess I didn't pay much attention in school. There's no doubt about it. Between cutting classes and passing notes to Chuck and Donna all the time, I didn't learn as much as I could have. At the time though, history was boring to me. Ok, it's also true, I was a class clown, but hey, I did memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address in the 8th grade! In Illinois (at least back then) it was actually a requirement to graduate!

Ever since President-elect Obama started all this Lincoln stuff by officially kicking off his campaign in Springfield of all places, and even returning there to announce his vice-president choice, and now having the kickoff ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial, I have wanted to write about the irony of it all. Unfortunately, I never found the time. I was so happy to find one of my favorite syndicated columnists, who happens to be black, write about it himself. That's even better! So thank you Leonard Pitts!

And don't get me wrong, I still believe Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents in our history. And I hope and pray that Obama will also be a great president or the best ever. Only time will tell, but I do have great faith and confidence in our new president. I wish him all the best. I have hope, and I hope for that change he talked about.