The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies will hold a workshop for K-12 social studies educators and the 2022 Mary and James Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series, both focused on “Lincoln and African Americans in History and Memory,” on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022.

The Center will invite up to 20 K-12 social studies teachers and preservice educators to participate in the second annual Lincoln Legacy Lecture workshop starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 22. The workshop will be led by Jonathan White, professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University. Prior to the workshop, participates will receive a free copy of White’s newest book, “To Address You as My Friend: African Americans’ Letter to Abraham Lincoln.” The book is a collection of more than 120 letters that African Americans sent to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Before the workshop, participants will be expected to read about 15 to 20 of the letters in order to contribute to the discussion. All K-12 and preservice social studies educators are welcome to register for the workshop. Teachers who attend can earn up to 3.5 CPDU credit hours from the UIS School of Education. The certificate hours account for 1.5 hour in the workshop and two hours for completing preworkshop readings. Educators in the TPS Midwest Region are preferred; however, all educators who meet the criteria are invited to register. Registration will be accepted online until Oct. 15, 2022.

The public is invited to attend the 2022 Mary and James Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series discussion on “Lincoln and African Americans in History and Memory” with professors Jonathan White, Matthew Norman and Fred Hord from 6-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 at the UIS Student Union, 2251 Richard Wright Drive, Springfield. If you are unable to attend in person you can register to view the program online.

White, Norman and Hord will discuss the many African Americans of the Civil War-era, their connection to Abraham Lincoln and how they felt about the President. Michael Burlingame, holder of the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at UIS, will moderate and provide an overview.

Jonathan W. White is an author or editor of 13 books and more than 100 articles, essays, and reviews about the Civil War. His earlier book, “Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln” was named the best book of 2014 by Civil War Monitor, was a finalist for both the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize and the Jefferson Davis Prize and won the Abraham Lincoln Institute's 2015 book prize. He is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, serves on the Boards of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute and the Abraham Lincoln Association and is the Vice Chair of The Lincoln Forum. He also serves on the Ford’s Theatre Advisory Council, the editorial board of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography and as editor of ​The Lincoln Forum Bulletin. White’s recent works are “My Work Among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss” (2021), which he co-edited with his student, Lydia Davis; “To Address You As My Friend: African Americans' Letters to Abraham Lincoln” (2021); and “A House Built By Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House” (2022).

Matthew Norman is an assistant professor of history at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash. He received his master’s and doctorate in history from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has published articles and reviews on Abraham Lincoln and race relations in Illinois. While under contract with ABC-CLIO, he is scheduled to write a reference work on Lincoln entitled, “All things Lincoln: An Encyclopedia of Lincoln’s World.” His recent work is “Knowing Him by Heart: African American Makings of Abraham Lincoln.”

Fred Hord is a full emeritus professor in Africana Studies and former chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Knox College. He is the editor of “I Am Because We Are: A Black Philosophy Reader and Reconstructing Memory: Black Literary Criticism.” He has been awarded the Minority Access National Role Model Award and named a Who’s Who Among Black Americans. Hord’s roles include being a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Black Studies, founder and president of the Association for Black Culture Centers (ABCC) and a member of the Board of the Illinois Committee for Black Concerns in Higher Education and the National Council for Black Studies. Additionally, he has helped raise in-kind support of more than $15,000 toward library acquisitions at the library of the Allied Blacks for Liberty and Equality Center for Black Culture. His recent work is “Knowing Him by Heart: African American Makings of Abraham Lincoln.”

The UIS Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series was inaugurated in 2002. It is now known as the Mary and James Beaumont Endowed Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series after a generous gift by Mary and James Beaumont. The UIS Center for Lincoln Studies is a national base for scholarship, teaching and public history about Lincoln’s life, leadership and legacy, and gives students an opportunity to collaborate with Lincoln scholars on research, history and public policy projects

For more information, contact Anne Moseley, acting director of the UIS Center for Lincoln Studies, at 217-206-8663 or asutt4@uis.edu.