Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln!

On this day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.  Serving as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861, until his assassination in 1865, Lincoln most famously preserved the Union through the Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most important documents in American history, and one of the most important milestones in the journey to legal and political freedom and equality for African-Americans. The Village and East Village played an outsized role in this journey, with critical abolitionist leaders and institutions, early free black communities, and some prominent sources of resistance to freedom for African-Americans.

Throughout the year, GVSHP will mark the Emancipation Proclamation’s 150th anniversary with a special series of programs looking at our neighborhood’s role in this ongoing struggle. 

The first such program is taking place on Wednesday, February 20- Abraham Lincoln & the Cooper Union Address: A Lecture by Louis P. Masur.  On February 27, 1860, Lincoln delivered what has come to be known as the Cooper Union Speech at Cooper Union’s Great Hall. In the speech he asserted the necessity of preserving the Union by outlawing slavery in the territories. Many scholars believe that this speech led to his ultimate nomination as the Republican candidate for presidency in May of that year. Join historian Louis P. Masur, author of Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union, as he examines this historic address and its role in the Civil War and abolition. He will also speak about the famous portrait taken of Lincoln earlier that day by photographer Mathew Brady in his NoHo studio, as well as the eventual celebration of Emancipation that took place at Cooper Union.

If you’d like more information on this event or to RSVP, CLICK HERE.