Frederick Douglass' impassioned eulogy to Lincoln to be presented by nationally-acclaimed actor at annual Abraham Lincoln Symposium banquet February 12
SPRINGFIELD, IL- When Frederick Douglass spoke, people listened. He was a former slave who purchased his freedom and became one of Abraham Lincoln's most vocal critics and supporters at the same time. And when Douglass delivered a eulogy to the 16th President at the dedication of a memorial in 1876, the speech he made has come to be known as the most stirring remembrance of Lincoln's legacy ever made.
That impassioned speech will be presented on Lincoln's 206th birthday, Thursday, February 12, by a nationally-acclaimed actor at the annual Abraham Lincoln Association Symposium Banquet. Fred Morsell, a veteran star of stage and screen, will headline the banquet and perform Frederick Douglass' famous speech, Eulogy to Lincoln. The New York Times praised Morsell's performance of a Douglass speech on PBS saying, "the standing ovation given to Mr. Morsell, whose sonorous voice stems in large part from his background as lyric baritone, is clearly and deservedly heartfelt."
The banquet will be held at the President Lincoln Hotel in Springfield on Thursday, February 12. The reception starts at 6 p.m. followed by a dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $85 each and can be obtained online at www.abrahamlincolnassociation.
Parts of Douglass' speech continue to echo through time: "...under his wise and beneficent rule we saw ourselves gradually lifted from the depths of slavery to the heights of liberty and manhood...we saw that the handwriting of ages, in the form of prejudice and proscription, was rapidly fading away from the face of our whole country; under his rule, and in due time, about as soon after all as the country could tolerate the strange spectacle, we saw our brave sons and brothers laying off the rags of bondage, and being clothed all over in the blue uniforms of the soldiers of the United States responding to the call of Abraham Lincoln, and with muskets on their shoulders, and eagles on their buttons, timing their high footsteps to liberty and union under the national flag...
"Any man can say things that are true of Abraham Lincoln...He was a mystery to no man who saw him and heard him. Though high in position, the humblest could approach him and feel at home in his presence. Though deep, he was transparent; though strong, he was gentle; though decided and pronounced in his convictions, he was tolerant towards those who differed from him, and patient under reproaches. Even those who only knew him through his public utterance obtained a tolerably clear idea of his character and personality."
The Abraham Lincoln Association (ALA) will also celebrate President Lincoln's birthday with its annual Abraham Lincoln-Benjamin P. Thomas Symposium that will begin on Wednesday, February 11 at 7 p.m. at The Old State Capitol State Historic site with a keynote address by Dr. Matthew Holden, Jr., the Wepner Distinguished Professor in Political Science at the University of Illinois Springfield. His presentation is titled The End and the Beginning: Emancipation and Counter-Emancipation.
The Symposium on Lincoln's presidency in 1865 continues on Thursday, February 12 at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield. The 11 a.m. speakers will be James B. Conroy, author of Our One Common Country: Abraham Lincoln and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865 and fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Chris DeRose, award-winning author of Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America's Greatest President, as well as several other books. A round table featuring all of the Symposium speakers begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. These Symposium events are free and open to the public.
The Thomas F. Schwartz Symposium luncheon, which begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, February 12 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, features speaker Dr. Ronald White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln: A Biography a New York Times bestseller and Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, a New York Times notable book. The luncheon is $25 per person and reservations can be made online at www.abrahamlincolnassociation.
The Abraham Lincoln Association Symposium is co-sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, The University of Illinois Springfield, The Old State Capitol State Historic Site and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. For more information about the Abraham Lincoln Association, visit www.abrahamlincolnassociation.
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