Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

Birthday Tribute and Wreath-Laying Ceremony - 8:00 am:
Four-time Grammy-nominated singer Michael Feinstein sang the National Anthem, accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps Band. Acclaimed poet and author Nikki Giovanni recited her new work, "At this Moment", written especially for the Bicentennial. And ALBC Co-Chairs Senator Dick Durbin and Harold Holzer addressed the crowd.

Other attendees and speakers included Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar; MOLLUS 57th Commander-in-Chief Karl Schaeffer and Gordon R. Bury, 54th MOLLUS Commander-in-Chief; and retired Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice – and ALBC Commissioner – Frank J. Williams who read the Gettysburg Address with school children from Strong John Thomson Elementary School in Washington, DC.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Judge Scott Stucky was Master of Ceremonies.

Wreaths were presented on behalf of the people of the United States, the diplomatic corps, and various hereditary organizations, including the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in a stirring ceremony.

Photos from that morning and a video of Michael Feinstein's performance can be found at the Lincoln Bicentennial's website.[6]

Bicameral Celebration of Abraham Lincoln's Birthday: A Congressional Tribute - 11:30 AM:
President Barack Obama paid tribute to the former legislator from Illinois in the United States Capitol rotunda and US Army Chorus resoundingly performed "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as House and Senate leaders convened to commemorate Lincoln's 200th birthday.

Senators Dick Durbin, Jim Bunning, Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid addressed the assembly and Illinois Congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr and Donald Manzullo recited the Gettysburg Address. Other speakers included Rep. John Boehner; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; ALBC Co-Chair Harold Holzer; Dr. Richard Norton Smith, former executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library; and Doris Kearns Goodwin, author and presidential historian.

Goodwin spoke about Lincoln's presidential leadership, and Dr. Smith addressed Lincoln's early years as a state legislator and Member of Congress. C-SPAN provided full coverage of the Bicameral Tribute.

Below is the list of speakers (in order) with some of their remarks:

• President Barack Obama
• Sen. Richard Durbin
• Sen. Jim Bunning
• Harold Holzer
• Congressmen Jesse Jackson and Donald Manzullo, both recited portions of Gettysburg Address, respectively.
• Richard Norton Smith
• Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Rep. John Boehner
• Sen. Mitch McConnell
• Sen. Harry Reid
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

The second part of the Lincoln Memorial Rededication Series, the ALBC and NPS combined efforts to produce the Marian Anderson Tribute and Naturalization Ceremony.

On Easter Sunday 1939, contralto Marian Anderson famously performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution barred her from singing at Constitution Hall due to the color of her skin.

Marian Anderson, who was born in 1897, was described as having "a voice heard once in a hundred years." Yet in 1939, she was denied the right to perform in Washington, DC's Constitution Hall due to the color of her skin. Through the efforts of Anderson, the NAACP, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, arrangements were made to hold the concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

On April 12, 2009, seventy years after Anderson set the stage for the modern civil rights era, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves performed at the Lincoln Memorial in a joyous Easter Sunday Concert paying tribute to Marian Anderson's performance.

Graves was joined by the internationally renowned a capella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock and the world-famous Chicago Children's Choir. Founded in 1956 at the First Unitarian Church in Chicago, by the late Rev. Christopher Moore.

Sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and others, the tribute also featured a naturalization ceremony of 191 new American citizens representing 56 countries. Gen. Colin Powell, the son of two Jamaican immigrants, delivered the keynote address.

The picturesque day concluded with the U.S. Marine Band performing John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

On May 30, 1922, President Warren G. Harding commemorated the life of President Lincoln with the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. Exactly four score and seven years later the ALBC, National Park Service, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Military District of Washington, presented a Rededication Retrospective.

The program, at the Lincoln Memorial, featured special guest speakers that delivered remarks about how Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial remained entwined as beacons of freedom. The program also featured performances by the United States Marine Band and by William Farley, winner of Poetry Out Loud, who read Poet and well-known Abraham Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg's The People, Yes.

Speakers and performers included:

• Gordon R. Bury, 100th Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
• William Farley, 2009 Poetry Out Loud National Champion
• Reverend Dr. Roger J. Gench, Senior pastor at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.
• Harold Holzer, ALBC Commissioner
• Peggy O'Dell, Regional Director for the National Capitol
• Dr. Benjamin Franklin Payton, President of Tuskegee University
• Ernest "Ernie" Quintana, Acting Deputy Director of the National Park Service
• Secretary Ken Salazar, Department of the Interior
• United States Marine Band

Gettysburg College hosted the first national Town Hall on November 20, 2008. Panelists included Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., Secretary Jack Kemp, Allen Guelzo, Susan Eisenhower and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs Norman Bristol Colon. Charles R. Branham, senior historian at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago moderated the discussion.

Over 300 people filled Union Ballroom as the panelists highlighted President Lincoln's role and impact during the American Civil War. Topics of discussion included race relations, equality of opportunity, the 2008 presidential election and cultural progression in America.

Focusing on "Lincoln, Leadership, and the Military," the February 27, 2009, meeting on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln was the second of 11 town halls.

The program, produced in cooperation with the aircraft carrier's commanders and the Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership, included:

• Matthew Pinsker, history professor at Dickinson College and author of Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldier's Home.
• Robin Read, president of the National Foundation for Women Legislators
• Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University history professor renowned for his scholarly work on African American sailors in the Civil War Navy
• Donald Scott, retired U.S. Army general, expert on military leadership.

In addition to the give-and-take of the town hall, the Lincoln's crew heard the world-premiere of "Letters From Lincoln," a newly commissioned jazz work by Anthony Davis, composer of operas X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X; Under the Double Moon; and Amistad.

A congressional delegation, led by U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), also visited the carrier and participated in the town hall meeting.

Adam Green, associate professor of history at the University of Chicago whose work has focused on African American and U.S. history and comparative racial politics, moderated.

Hosted by the Historical Society of Washington, DC, the ALBC's third national Town Hall focused on Race, Freedom, & Equality of Opportunity: The Right to Vote.

The distinguished panel explored the history of voting and voting rights in the U.S.; the struggle for voting rights waged by various groups of Americans; the cultural importance of casting a ballot as civic participation and empowerment; and how the District's voting limbo is part of that history.

Panelists included:

• Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
• Donita Judge, Attorney, Advancement Project
• Alexander Keyssar, Social Policy Professor, Harvard and author, "The Right to Vote"
• Jonathan Turley, Renowned Constitutional Law Scholar, George Washington University Law School
• Kenneth Thomas, Legislative Attorney, Congressional Research Service
• Armstrong Williams, Syndicated Radio Host and columnist
• Ron Walters, Leadership & Politics Expert, University of Maryland, College Park, and author, "Freedom Is Not Enough"

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and Howard University History professor, Dr. Edna Greene Medford delivered stirring and exceptional remarks.

The March 19, 2009, town hall also featured live musical performances from DC artists Rasi Caprice, Joe L Da Vessel and Melodic, and Chinwe Enu.

Askia Mohammad, news director of WPFW-FM Radio 89.3 and National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) Syndicated Columnist, moderated the discussion.

In the fourth National Town Hall, the ALBC partnered with The Henry Ford Museum. The April 20, 2009, town hall discussed issues pertaining to Race, Freedom & Equality of Opportunity.

Participants included:

• Douglas Brinkley, American author and distinguished Professor of History, Rice University
• Darlene Clark Hine, Professor of African American Studies and History, Northwestern University
• Dr. Arthur L. Johnson, educator, community leader and former Executive Secretary of NAACP-Detroit Branch
• Dr. John Stauffer, Professor of English and African American Studies, Harvard University and author, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
• U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young

How do the stories we tell shape history, and how does history shape the stories we tell? This question highlighted the themes at the ALBC's fifth town hall. The June 29, 2009, program featured a conversation between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Chicago newspaperman Rick Kogan. The event was held at the Chicago Public Library.

The Library of Congress opened "With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition" on February 12, 2009. Charting Lincoln's growth from prairie lawyer to preeminent statesman, the exhibit addresses the monumental issues Lincoln faced including slavery and race, dissolution of the Union and the American Civil War. The traveling exhibition features numerous photographs, letters, speeches, and campaign artifacts rarely seen by the public.[7] Dates for "With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibit" can be found below:

February 12 – May 9, 2009: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

June 22 – August 22, 2009: The California Museum, Sacramento, CA

October 10 – December 19, 2009: Newberry Library, Chicago, IL

February 22 – April 22, 2010: Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, IN

September 4 – November 6, 2010: Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA

January 8, 2011 – March 5, 2011: Durham Western Heritage Museum, Omaha, NE

New-York Historical Society exhibited a selection of handwritten public documents and letters in "Lincoln in His Own Words: An Intimate Portrait Of Our Greatest President" through July 12, 2009. From 2009 to 2010, The New-York Historical Society mounted "Lincoln and New York," an exhibition curated by Lincoln Bicentennial Commission co-chair Harold Holzer.[8]

Contributions by Professor Carwardine, Dr. Jay Sexton of Oxford, Odd Arne Westad of London School of Economics and Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer explored Lincoln's understanding of the globe and US role in foreign affairs.

Dr. Sexton considered the ways in which American educators and statesmen attempted to project an image of the Lincoln across the globe, particularly during the Cold War and when formulating and articulating American foreign policy. Dr. Westad expanded on the Cold War and explored the ways in which peoples and states conceived of Lincoln and used his image for their own purposes. Finally, ALBC Commissioner Harold Holzer examined prints and statues of Lincoln's image across the world.

Part two of the conference focused on Lincoln's international view as an emancipator and liberator. Professor Norman Saul of Kansas State delivered a Russian perspective of Lincoln and the president's image in the context of Russia's revolutionary changes during the birth of the soviet era. The discussion continued with a Latin America perspective from Professor Nicola Miller of the University College of London. Professor Miller examined how Lincoln served as a powerful symbol in Brazil and Cuba during those country's emancipation.

Finally, historian David Blight of Yale University revisited the perceptions of southerners during Lincoln's era. Initially, many feared him as the embodiment of 'Black Republicanism' but after the war these same southerners came to recognize him as the charitable alternative to the regime of radical Republicans during Reconstruction.

Part three focused on the time period between 1865 and 1945. Professor Eugenio Biagini of the University of Cambridge examined the perceptions of Lincoln in Germany and Italy as they underwent parallel processes of unification and economic growth. Other discussion topics included Lincoln's influence in East Asia, India, South Africa and during the Spanish Civil War with the "Lincoln Brigades."

Plans to explore Lincoln's legacy and reputation throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Adam I.P. Smith, University College London, discussed Lincoln's legacy as it relates to Scotland and England.

A Wales perspective came from Kenneth O. Morgan of University of Oxford. Professor Morgan addressed Lincoln's reputation and influence in Wales during the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

Professor Kevin Kenny of Boston College discussed Lincoln's relationship with Ireland. Professor Kenny broadened the discussion to include the Irish in America. The main focus was Lincoln's image in debates regarding Irish nationalism and Ireland's place in the Union.