The Black man's president : Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, & the pursuit of racial equality
by Burlingame, Michael, 1941- (Author)
Summary
"This narrative history of Lincoln's personal interchange with Black people over the course his career reveals a side of the sixteenth president that, until now, has not been fully explored or understood. In a little-noted eulogy delivered shortly after Lincoln's assassination, Frederick Douglass ca... Full description
- "Extensive interaction with African Americans in Springfield": the Illinois years
- "Blinded by no prejudices against race or color": Lincoln and African Americans on the White House staff
- "Expressing a hearty wish for the welfare of the colored race": initial meetings with African American leaders
- "A sop to conservatives": meeting with leaders of Washington's African American community
- "Abraham Lincoln takes no backward step": Frederick Douglass and other African American callers in 1863
- "To keep the jewel of liberty within the family of freedom": African American callers in 1864, including Frederick Douglass again
- "A practical assertion of negro citizenship for which few were prepared": White House receptions, 1864-1865, including Frederick Douglass (again)
- 1865: annus mirabilis for African Americans
- Emphatically the black man's president or preeminently the white man's president?
- Appendix evaluation of evidence cited to illustrate Lincoln's purported racism.