(Cazenovia, NY – Oct. 2015) The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) is pleased that Harold Holzer will be the keynote speaker for the “Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipator” event. Holzer, President of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, will present “Abraham Lincoln and the Abolition Press” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Catherine Cummings Theatre, 16 Lincklaen St. in Cazenovia.
Harold Holzer is one of the country’s leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, Holzer serves as chairman of The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, successor organization to the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), to which he was appointed by President Clinton in 2000, and co-chaired from 2001–2010.
President Bush, in turn, awarded Holzer the National Humanities Medal in 2008. And in 2013, Holzer wrote an essay on Lincoln for the official program at the re-inauguration of President Barack Obama. He is serving currently as the first Roger Hertog Fellow at The New-York Historical Society.
Holzer has authored, co-authored, and edited more than 45 previous books on Lincoln and the Civil War. He recently announced his retirement from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he has worked for 23 years, most recently as senior vice president for public affairs, and is now Professor of History at Hunter College, City University of New York.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Gettysburg College awarded Holzer the 2015 Lincoln Prize for his book “Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion.” In his book, Holzer examines Abraham Lincoln’s lifelong relationship with the press, particularly with the powerful and influential New York editors James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greeley, and Henry J. Raymond, and explores how, in the age of Lincoln, the press and politics often functioned in tandem as a single, tightly organized entity.
In addition, Holzer chronicles how acute conflicts arose between the government and the press during the Civil War, as Lincoln sought to defend the Union against an insurrection that challenged the president’s ability to balance the demands of national security with the protection of individual rights—including freedom of the press.Holzer rightly emphasizes the “war for public opinion” that took place between Lincoln and his Democratic Party rivals over 30 years, a rivalry that set the terms of the debate regarding the future of American slavery, particularly among northern white voters.
While Lincoln stands as the protagonist of this historic drama, Holzer also offers a timely examination of the role of the press in a free society and popular government, especially for a nation that found itself dealing with a rebellion.
In commemoration of the end of the Civil War, the death of Lincoln, and the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) has suspended its 2015 induction ceremonies to address the matter of President Lincoln as “The Great Emancipator.” Several programs will provide opportunity for the public to study Lincoln as an abolitionist.
The “Lincoln Weekend” will begin at the Catherine Cummings Theatre in Cazenovia at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 with “A Concert for President Lincoln” by the Excelsior Cornet Band.
The next day, Saturday Oct. 24 at the Cummings Theatre, “The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln: Head, Heart, and the American Memory” will be presented at 2 p.m. by Milton C. Sernett PhD with Lincoln scholars Jason Emerson (Editor Cazenovia Republican) and Joseph Fornieri PhD (professor at Rochester Institute of Technology).
Admission for each program is a Lincoln bill for adults and a Lincoln coin for ages 5 to 12.
The annual NAHOF Antislavery Dinner will be served at 5 p.m. in Coleman Hall, Cazenovia College. Reservations are required by Oct. 14.
The “Great Emancipator” event and the “Created Equal Film and Discussion” series will both culminate on Sunday, Oct. 25 in Peterboro at 9 .m. with Abolition Coffee and a guided tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro) with Gerrit Smith biographer Norman K. Dann PhD.
At 10 a.m. an Abolition Breakfast reception for Dorothy Riester’s sculpture titled “Young Lincoln” will be held at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum to welcome the sculpture loan from the Stone Quarry Art Park, followed directly by a guided tour of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro) with NAHOF Vice-President Tim McLaughlin PhD. at 10:30.
At 11:30 the three part series of “The Abolitionists,” which is part of the “Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle” film series, will begin with Part I of The Abolitionists – along with Abolition Morning Tea. Part II begins at 1 p.m. with Abolition Lunch, and Part III begins at 2:30 with Abolition Dessert. The concluding session at 4:00 p.m. examines Where are We as Abolitionists Today?
Sunday, Oct. 25 sessions are free.
Reservation forms for the Antislavery Dinner and for tickets are available at nahofm1835@gmail.com, www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum, and 315-280-8828.
Tickets are also available at Cazenovia Jewelry (49 Albany Street Cazenovia, New York 13035 315-655-9114) and at the door.