An unprecedented collection of African American writings on Lincoln

Though not blind to Abraham Lincoln's imperfections, Black Americans long ago laid a heartfelt claim to his legacy. At the same time, they have consciously reshaped the sixteenth president's image for their own social and political ends. Frederick Hord and Matthew D. Norman's anthology explores the complex nature of views on Lincoln through the writings and thought of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Gwendolyn Brooks, Barbara Jeanne Fields, Barack Obama, and dozens of others. The selections move from speeches to letters to book excerpts, mapping the changing contours of the bond--emotional and intellectual--between Lincoln and Black Americans over the span of one hundred and fifty years.

A comprehensive and valuable reader, Knowing Him by Heart examines Lincoln’s still-evolving place in Black American thought.

Introduction

Frederick Douglass, Emancipation Day Address at Poughkeepsie, New York, August 2, 1858

Frederick Douglass, “The Chicago Nominations,” June, 1860

H. Ford Douglas, Address at Framingham, Massachusetts, July 4, 1860

Frederick Douglass, “The Inaugural Address,” April, 1861

“President Lincoln’s Inaugural,” Editorial in the Weekly Anglo-African, New York, March 16, 1861

“The Fatal Step Backward,” Editorial in the Anglo-African, September 21, 1861

Jabez P. Campbell, “The President and the Colored People,” October 1, 1861, Trenton, New Jersey

Robert Hamilton, “The President’s Message,” Editorial in the Anglo-African, December 7, 1861

Robert Hamilton, “The Hanging of Gordon for Man Stealing,” Editorial in the Anglo-African, March 1, 1862

Henry McNeal Turner on Lincoln’s Proposal for Compensated Emancipation, March 16, 1862

“The Emancipation Message,” Editorial in the Weekly Anglo-African, New York, March 22, 1862

Daniel Alexander Payne, Account of Meeting with Abraham Lincoln, April 1862

Henry Highland Garnet on Emancipation in Washington, DC, May 12, 1862

Philip A. Bell, Editorial on Lincoln’s Revocation of Gen. Hunter’s Emancipation Decree in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, June 14, 1862

Edward M. Thomas to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, August 16, 1862

Frederick Douglass, “The President and His Speeches,” September, 1862

Resolutions of Newtown, New York Meeting on Lincoln’s Colonization Proposal, August 20, 1862

Alfred P. Smith, Letter to President Lincoln in Response to Colonization Proposal, Saddle River, New Jersey, September 5, 1862

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on Lincoln’s Colonization Proposal, September 27, 1862

Philip A. Bell, Editorial on the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, September 27, 1862

Frederick Douglass, “Emancipation Proclaimed,” October, 1862

George B. Vashon, Open Letter to President Lincoln on Colonization, October, 1862

Henry McNeal Turner, Response to Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 26, 1862

Thomas Strother on Lincoln’s Colonization Proposal, October 4, 1862

Ezra R. Johnson, “The Liberty Bells are Ringing,” October 4, 1862

C. P. S., “The President on Emancipation,” October 4, 1862

Free Black People of Washington, DC, Letter to President Lincoln on Colonization, November 2, 1862

Frederick Douglass, “January First 1863”

Emancipation Celebration at Beaufort, South Carolina, January 1, 1863

Philip A. Bell, “The Year of Jubilee Has Come!” January 3, 1863

Robert Hamilton, “The Great Event,” Anglo-African, January 3, 1863

Emancipation Celebration at Trenton, New Jersey, January 1, 1863

James Smith, Report on Emancipation Celebration at Elmira, New York, January 5, 1863

Jeremiah B. Sanderson, Address at Emancipation Jubilee in San Francisco, January 14, 1863

Osborne P. Anderson, Remarks on the Emancipation Celebration in Chicago, January 1, 1863

H. Ford Douglas to Frederick Douglass, Colliersville, Tennessee, Jan. 8, 1863

Thomas Morris Chester, Speech at Cooper Institute, New York, New York, January 20, 1863

James H. Hudson, Letter to the Editor of the Pacific Appeal, February 25, 1863

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, “The President’s Proclamation,” March 7, 1863

John Proctor to Abraham Lincoln, Beaufort, South Carolina, April 18, 1863

William Slade to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC April 28, 1863

Robert Purvis, Address to the American Anti-Slavery Society, New York, May 12, 1863

Hannah Johnson to Abraham Lincoln, Buffalo, New York, July 31, 1863

Frederick Douglass, “The Commander-in-Chief and His Black Soldiers,” August, 1863

Leonard A. Grimes to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, August 21, 1863

Jeremiah Asher to Abraham Lincoln, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1863

Robert Hamilton, Editorial on Lincoln’s Letter to James C. Conkling in the Anglo-African, New York, September 12, 1863

Robert Hamilton, Editorial Endorsing Lincoln for a Second Term as President in the Anglo-African, New York, October 24, 1863

African Civilization Society, Address to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, November 5, 1863

Frederick Douglass, Address to the American Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1863

Philip A. Bell, Editorial on President Lincoln’s Annual Message in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, December 12, 1863

William Florville to Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, December 27, 1863

Thomas R. Street, Emancipation Day Address, Virginia City, Nevada Territory, January 1, 1864

Philip A. Bell, Editorial Endorsing Lincoln for a Second Term in Office in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, January 9, 1864

John H. Morgan et al. to Abraham Lincoln, Pensacola, Florida, January 16, 1864

Mattild Burr to Abraham Lincoln, January 18, 1864

Amos G. Beman on the First Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, January 23, 1864

Richard H. Cain to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, January 27, 1864

Jean Baptiste Roudanez and Arnold Bertonneau, Memorial to Abraham Lincoln, March 10, 1864

Petition of North Carolina Freedmen to Abraham Lincoln, April or May, 1864

Don Carlos Rutter to Abraham Lincoln, St. Helena Island, South Carolina, May 29, 1864

George E. Stephens, Letter to the Editor of the Anglo-African, May 26, 1864

James W. C. Pennington, Letter to the Editor of the Anglo-African, New York, June 9, 1864

“Africano,” Letter to the Editor of the Anglo-African, Point Lookout, Maryland, July 18, 1864

Annie Davis to Abraham Lincoln, Belair, Maryland, August 25, 1864

Frederick Douglass to Abraham Lincoln, Rochester, New York, August 29, 1864

Robert Hamilton, Editorial on the Presidential Election in the Anglo-African, New York, September 24, 1864

“Africano,” Letter to Editor of Anglo-African, Point Lookout, Maryland, September 2, 1864

S. W. Chase, Remarks to Abraham Lincoln upon Presenting a Bible, September 7, 1864

Sojourner Truth, Account of Meeting with Abraham Lincoln, October 29, 1864

Robert Hamilton Gives Thanks for Lincoln’s Re-election, November 19, 1864

Martin Delany, Account of Meeting with Abraham Lincoln, February 8, 1865

George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, Hilton Head, South Carolina, March 19, 1865

Thomas Morris Chester, Report on Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond, Virginia, April 4, 1865

Isaac J. Hill, Account of Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond, April 4, 1865

Alexander H. Newton, Account of Lincoln’s Visit to Richmond, April 4, 1865

Jacob Thomas, Sermon Preached in Memory of Abraham Lincoln at AME Zion Church, Troy, New York, April 16, 1865

Resolutions Passed on Lincoln’s Assassination in Middletown, Connecticut, April 20, 1865

Martin Delany, Proposal for a Monument to Abraham Lincoln, April 20, 1865

Robert Hamilton, “Thy Will Be Done” April 22, 1865

James W. C. Pennington on Lincoln’s Funeral Procession through New York City, April 27, 1865

Angeline R. Demby, Poem in Memory of Abraham Lincoln, April 29, 1865

Reaction to Lincoln’s Assassination in Baltimore, April, 1865

Henry O. Wagoner, Report on Lincoln’s Funeral Procession in Chicago, May 2, 1865

George W. Le Vere, Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 22, 1865

Frederick Douglass, Speech at Cooper Institute, New York, June 1, 1865

Frederick Douglass, Draft of A Speech on Lincoln, circa December, 1865

Address of the Illinois Convention of Colored Men to the American People, Galesburg, Illinois, October 16-18, 1866

Elizabeth Keckley, Behind the Scenes, 1868

Paul Trevigne, Editorial on Emancipation Day in the New Orleans Tribune, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 1, 1869

Thomas N. C. Liverpool, Address on Lincoln’s Birthday, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 12, 1873

Frederick Douglass, Address at Dedication of the Freedmen’s Monument, Washington, DC, April 14, 1876

H. Cordelia Ray, “Lincoln,” Poem written for Dedication of the Freedmen’s Monument, Washington, DC, April 14, 1876

George Washington Williams, A History of the Negro Race in America, 1882

Emmanuel K. Love, Emancipation Day Address at Savannah, Georgia, January 2, 1888

William S. Scarborough>, Remarks at Ohio Republican League Club Lincoln Banquet, Columbus, Ohio, February 13, 1888

John Mercer Langston, Memorial Day Address at Washington, DC, May 30, 1891

Peter H. Clark on Lincoln and Emancipation, May 18, 1892

Frederick Douglass, Address at Lincoln Birthday Celebration, Brooklyn, New York, February 13, 1893

E. W. S. Hammond, “Lincoln on the Negro,” May 11, 1893

Charles W. Anderson, Address on Emancipation Proclamation, Chicago, Illinois, February 12, 1895

Booker T. Washington, Address at the Union League Club, Brooklyn, New York, February 12, 1896

Harriet Tubman, Statement on Abraham Lincoln, July, 1896

Julius F. Taylor, Critique of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, August 7, 1897

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Emancipation Day Address at Decatur, Illinois, September 22, 1899

Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Lincoln,” 1899

Elizabeth Thomas, Reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln, 1900

Archibald H. Grimke, “Abraham Lincoln,” March, 1900

Elizabeth Keckly on Lincoln, 1901

“The Negro’s Natal Day,” February, 1904

William A. Sinclair, The Aftermath of Slavery: A Study of the Condition and Environment of the American Negro, 1905

Jesse Max Barber, “Abraham Lincoln and the Negro,” February, 1905

Mary Church Terrell, Address on Abraham Lincoln, New York, February 13, 1905

T. Thomas Fortune, Address on Lincoln, Montclair, New Jersey, February 16, 1906

Reverdy C. Ransom, Address on Abraham Lincoln, circa 1907

W. E. B. Du Bois, Address Delivered at Hull House, Chicago, Illinois, February 12, 1907

William Monroe Trotter, “Proposed Mass. Lincoln Centennial,” Editorial in the Guardian on Celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday, Boston, Massachusetts, January 18, 1908

Maude K. Griffin, “Lincoln--Man of Many Sides,” April, 1908

Hightower T. Kealing, “Lincoln’s Birthday--The Great American Day,” January, 1909

Silas X. Floyd, Address at Emancipation Day Celebration in Augusta, Georgia, January 1, 1909

George L. Knox, “Celebrating in Memory of Lincoln,” January 2, 1909

Selections from The American Missionary, Special Issue on Lincoln, February, 1909: Thomas S. Inborden, George W. Henderson, William Pickens, Kelly Miller, Etta M. T. Cottin, Archibald H. Grimke, and John M. Gandy

Fred R. Moore, “Lincoln and the Negro,” February, 1909

Sylvanie F. Williams, “Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation,” February, 1909

Harry C. Smith, “Lincoln in a True Light,” February 6, 1909

James H. Magee, Address at Lincoln Centennial Commemoration, Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 1909

Booker T. Washington, Address at Republican Club of New York, New York, February 12, 1909

James L. Curtis, Address on Centennial of Lincoln’s Birth, February 12, 1909

John W. E. Bowen Sr., Address at Lincoln Centennial Commemoration, Chicago, Illinois, February 12, 1909

Cora J. Ball, “On Lincoln’s Centennial,” February 13, 1909

Fred R. Moore, “Lincoln Day And The White Folks,” March, 1909

Thomas Nelson Baker, “Speech of Lincoln,” March-April, 1909

Josephine Silone Yates, “Lincoln the Emancipator,” April, 1910

Henry McNeal Turner, “Reminiscences of the Proclamation of Emancipation,” January, 1913

James Weldon Johnson, “Father, Father Abraham,” February, 1913

William H. Lewis, Speech before the Massachusetts General Assembly, February 12, 1913

W. E. B. Du Bois, Address to Commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s Birthday, Chicago, Illinois, February 12, 1913

Booker T. Washington, Address at Rochester, New York, February 12, 1913

John H. Murphy Sr., “A Government for the People,” July 5, 1913

Robert R. Wright Sr., Address at the Emancipation Proclamation Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1913

Theophile T. Allain, Address to Commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Decatur, Illinois, September 23, 1913

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, “Abraham Lincoln,” 1914

Grand Household of Ruth, Resolution on Equal Suffrage, August, 1915

Richard W. Gadsden, Address on Lincoln’s Birthday, Savannah, Georgia, February 12, 1918

Edward A. Johnson, Speech on Lincoln’s Birthday in the New York State Assembly, Albany, New York, February 12, 1918

Alice Dunbar-Nelson, “Lincoln and Douglass,” 1920

Hubert H. Harrison, “Lincoln and Liberty--Fact Versus Fiction,” March, 1921

Carter G. Woodson, The Negro in Our History, 1922

Robert R. Moton, Draft for an Address at the Dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, May, 1922

Georgia Douglas Johnson, “To Abraham Lincoln,” 1922

W. E. B. Du Bois, Editorials on Abraham Lincoln in The Crisis, July, 1922 and September, 1922

National Association of Colored Women, Speeches and a Resolution Commemorating Abraham Lincoln, 1923-1924

Langston Hughes, “Lincoln Monument: Washington,” March, 1927

Charles Chesnutt, Address to the Harlan Club, Cleveland, Ohio, February 14, 1928

Walter White, “If Lincoln Were Here,” Radio Address on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12, 1929

Lamar Perkins, Address in the New York State Assembly, Albany, New York, February 12, 1930

Samuel A. Haynes, Editorial in the Philadelphia Tribune on Lincoln and Emancipation Day, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1932

William E. Lilly, Set My People Free: A Negro’s Life of Lincoln, 1932

Robert L. Vann, “The Patriot and the Partisan,” Speech Delivered in Cleveland, Ohio September 11, 1932

Carter G. Woodson, “Abolitionists Worried Lincoln,” November 24, 1932

William Lloyd Imes, “A Negro’s Tribute to Lincoln,” Radio Address on Lincoln’s Birthday, February 12, 1935, Station WMCA, New York, February 12, 1935

Eugene Gordon, Editorial on Lincoln, February, 1935

Arthur W. Mitchell, Address in the US House of Representatives, June 1, 1936

Grace Evans, Remarks at Emancipation Day Celebration, Connersville, Indiana, September 22, 1936

Harry C. Smith, Editorial in the Cleveland Gazette, Cleveland, Ohio, February 20, 1937

Selections from WPA Slave Narratives, 1936-38

Aaron H. Payne, Address at Lincoln Day Dinner, New York, February 12, 1940

Claude McKay, “Lincoln--Apostle of a New America,” February 13, 1943

March on Washington Movement, Press Release Regarding the Celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday, February 14, 1943

Roscoe Conkling Simmons, Address to a Joint Session of the Illinois General Assembly, February 13, 1944

Joel A. Rogers, “Lincoln Wanted to Deport Negroes and Opposed Equal Rights,” February 26, 1944

Mary McLeod Bethune, Address on Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington, DC, February 12, 1945

John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom, 1947

Ella Baker, Emancipation Day Address, Atlanta, Georgia, January 1, 1947

Luther Porter Jackson, “The Views of Abraham Lincoln on Race Question,” February 12, 1948

Willard Townsend, “Lincoln Did Not Envision 1952 in His Speech at Gettysburg,” January 19, 1952

Ralph J. Bunche, Address at the Lincoln Association of Jersey City, New Jersey, February 12, 1954

Mary McLeod Bethune, Editorial on Lincoln’s Birthday in the Chicago Defender, Chicago. Illinois, February 12, 1955

Roy Wilkins, Radio Address to Commemorate Lincoln’s Birthday, February 11 or 12, 1958

Mordecai W. Johnson, Address on Abraham Lincoln Before the Michigan Legislature, Lansing, Michigan, February 12, 1959

Carl J. Murphy , “Freedom Is Never A Gift,” Editorial in the BaltimoreAfro-American, Baltimore, Maryland, January 23, 1960

Jackie Robinson, “Kennedy Not Another Lincoln,” June 9, 1962

Martin Luther King Jr., Draft of an Address at the Park Sheraton Hotel, New York, New York, September 12, 1962

Thurgood Marshall, Remarks on Commemoration of the Centennial of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, September 22, 1962

Edith Sampson, Address on Emancipation Proclamation, circa 1962-1963

Benjamin Quarles, Lincoln and the Negro, 1962

John Hope Franklin, The Emancipation Proclamation, 1963

St. Clair Drake, The Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Lectures, Chicago, Illinois, January-February, 1963

Charles H. Wesley, Remarks at Opening of the Emancipation Proclamation Exhibit at the National Archives, Washington, DC, January 4, 1963

Daisy Bates, “After 100 Years--Where Do We Stand?” An Address on the Emancipation Proclamation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 6, 1963

Malcolm X, Speech at the University of California, October 11, 1963

Gwendolyn Brooks, “In the Time of Detachment, in the Time of Cold, 1965”

John Hope Franklin, “Abraham Lincoln and Civil Rights,” an Address at Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1965

Julius Lester, Look Out Whitey, Black Power’s Gon’ Get Your Mama, 1968

Lerone Bennett Jr., “Was Abe Lincoln a White Supremacist?” February, 1968

Henry Lee Moon, “Abraham Lincoln: A Man to Remember and Honor,” February, 1968

John H. Sengstacke, “A New Lincoln,” Editorial in the Chicago Daily Defender, Chicago, February 12, 1968

Norman E. W. Hodges, Breaking the Chains of Bondage, 1972

Arvarh Strickland, Remarks at the Abraham Lincoln Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 1980

Mary Frances Berry, “Lincoln & Civil Rights for Blacks,” Address at the Abraham Lincoln Association Banquet, Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 1980

Vincent Harding, There Is a River, 1981

Clarence Thomas on Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence, 1987

Barbara Jeanne Fields, “Who Freed the Slaves?” 1990

Lerone Bennett Jr., Forced into Glory, 2000

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Lincoln on Race and Slavery, 2009

Barack Obama, “What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes,” July 4, 2005

Barack Obama, Remarks at the Abraham Lincoln Association Banquet, Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 2009

Index