An unprecedented collection of African American writings on Lincoln

Though not blind to Abraham Lincoln's imperfections, Black Americans long ago laid a heartfelt claim to his legacy. At the same time, they have consciously reshaped the sixteenth president's image for their own social and political ends. Frederick Hord and Matthew D. Norman's anthology explores the complex nature of views on Lincoln through the writings and thought of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Gwendolyn Brooks, Barbara Jeanne Fields, Barack Obama, and dozens of others. The selections move from speeches to letters to book excerpts, mapping the changing contours of the bond—emotional and intellectual—between Lincoln and Black Americans over the span of one hundred and fifty years.

A comprehensive and valuable reader, Knowing Him by Heart examines Lincoln's still-evolving place in Black American thought.

Frederick Douglass, Emancipation Day Address at Poughkeepsie, New York, August 2, 1858

Frederick Douglass, "The Chicago Nominations," June, 1860

H. Ford Douglas, Address at Framingham, Massachusetts, July 4, 1860

Frederick Douglass, "The Inaugural Address," April, 1861

"President Lincoln's Inaugural," Editorial in the Weekly Anglo-African, New York, March 16, 1861

"The Fatal Step Backward," Editorial in the Anglo-African, September 21, 1861

Jabez P. Campbell, "The President and the Colored People," October 1, 1861, Trenton, New Jersey

Robert Hamilton, "The President's Message," Editorial in the Anglo-African, December 7, 1861

Robert Hamilton, "The Hanging of Gordon for Man Stealing," Editorial in the Anglo-African, March 1, 1862

Henry McNeal Turner on Lincoln's Proposal for Compensated Emancipation, March 16, 1862

"The Emancipation Message," Editorial in the Weekly Anglo-African, New York, March 22, 1862

Daniel Alexander Payne, Account of Meeting with Abraham Lincoln, April 1862

Henry Highland Garnet on Emancipation in Washington, DC, May 12, 1862

Philip A. Bell, Editorial on Lincoln's Revocation of Gen. Hunter's Emancipation Decree in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, June 14, 1862

Edward M. Thomas to Abraham Lincoln, Washington, DC, August 16, 1862

Frederick Douglass, "The President and His Speeches," September, 1862

Resolutions of Newtown, New York Meeting on Lincoln's Colonization Proposal, August 20, 1862

Alfred P. Smith, Letter to President Lincoln in Response to Colonization Proposal, Saddle River, New Jersey, September 5, 1862

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on Lincoln's Colonization Proposal, September 27, 1862

Philip A. Bell, Editorial on the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the Pacific Appeal, San Francisco, California, September 27, 1862

Frederick Douglass, "Emancipation Proclaimed," October, 1862

George B. Vashon, Open Letter to President Lincoln on Colonization, October, 1862

Henry McNeal Turner, Response to Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 26, 1862

Thomas Strother on Lincoln's Colonization Proposal, October 4, 1862

Ezra R. Johnson, "The Liberty Bells are Ringing," October 4, 1862

C. P. S., "The President on Emancipation," October 4, 1862

Free Black People of Washington, DC, Letter to President Lincoln on Colonization, November 2, 1862

Frederick Douglass, "January First 1863"

Emancipation Celebration at Beaufort, South Carolina, January 1, 1863

Philip A. Bell, "The Year of...