Lincoln on Race & Slavery

  • 6h 54m
  • Donald Yacovone (eds), Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Princeton University Press
  • 2009

From acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the most comprehensive collection of Lincoln's writings on race and slavery

Generations of Americans have debated the meaning of Abraham Lincoln's views on race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, yet he also harbored grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African Americans, publicly used the n-word until at least 1862, and favored permanent racial segregation. In this book―the first complete collection of Lincoln's important writings on both race and slavery―readers can explore these contradictions through Lincoln's own words. Acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentary filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presents the full range of Lincoln's views, gathered from his private letters, speeches, official documents, and even race jokes, arranged chronologically from the late 1830s to the 1860s.

Complete with definitive texts, rich historical notes, and an original introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this book charts the progress of a war within Lincoln himself. We witness his struggles with conflicting aims and ideas―a hatred of slavery and a belief in the political equality of all men, but also anti-black prejudices and a determination to preserve the Union even at the cost of preserving slavery. We also watch the evolution of his racial views, especially in reaction to the heroic fighting of black Union troops.

At turns inspiring and disturbing, Lincoln on Race and Slavery is indispensable for understanding what Lincoln's views meant for his generation―and what they mean for our own.

About the Author

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Donald Yacovone has written and edited a number of books, including Freedom's Journey: African American Voices of the Civil War.

In this Book

  • Protest in Illinois Legislature on Slavery
  • Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois
  • AL to Mary Speed
  • Temperance Address
  • AL to Williamson Durley
  • AL to Josephus Hewett
  • Speech at Worcester, Massachusetts
  • Remarks and Resolution Introduced in United States House of Representatives Concerning Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia
  • Eulogy on Henry Clay & Outline for Speech to the Colonization Society
  • Speech to the Springfield Scott Club
  • Fragments on Slavery
  • Speech at Bloomington, Illinois
  • Speech at Peoria, Illinois
  • AL to Ichabod Codding
  • AL to Owen Lovejoy
  • AL to George Robertson
  • AL to Joshua F. Speed
  • Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • AL to Newton Deming and George P. Strong
  • Speech at Springfield, Illinois
  • A House Divided, Speech at Springfield, Illinois
  • AL to John L. Scripps
  • Fragment on the Struggle Against Slavery
  • Speech at Chicago, Illinois
  • Speech at Springfield, Illinois
  • Speech at Lewistown, Illinois
  • First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois
  • Second Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Freeport, Illinois
  • Speech at Carlinville, Illinois
  • Speech at Clinton, Illinois
  • Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois
  • Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas
  • Fragment on Pro-slavery Theology
  • Seventh and Last Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Alton, Illinois & AL to James N. Brown
  • AL to Salmon P. Chase
  • Speech at Columbus, Ohio
  • Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Fragment on Free Labor
  • Address at the Cooper Institute, New York City
  • Speech at Hartford, Connecticut
  • AL to John A. Gilmer
  • First Inaugural Address
  • AL to Orville H. Browning
  • Message to Congress
  • AL to James A. McDougall
  • AL to Horace Greeley & Message to Congress
  • Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Emancipation
  • Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes
  • AL to Horace Greeley
  • Reply to Emancipation Memorial Presented by Chicago Christians of All Denominations
  • Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
  • Annual Message to Congress
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • AL to Andrew Johnson
  • Resolution on Slavery
  • AL to John M. Schofield
  • Order of Retaliation
  • AL to Nathaniel P. Banks
  • AL to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
  • AL to James C. Conkling
  • Fragment
  • Annual Message to Congress
  • Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association
  • AL to Albert G. Hodges
  • AL to Edwin M. Stanton
  • Interview with Alexander W. Randall and Joseph T. Mills
  • Resolution Submitting the Thirteenth Amendment to the States
  • Second Inaugural Address
  • Speech to One Hundred Fortieth Indiana Regiment
  • Last Public Address
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