When Abraham Lincoln and Sen. Stephen A. Douglas arrived in dry and dusty Ottawa, Illinois, on Aug. 21, 1858, for the first of their seven great debates, their campaigns for the Senate were consumed by the great national struggle over slavery. A large press corps covered the debates, which were big news across the nation and established Lincoln’s national reputation. … [Read more...] about Lincoln-Douglas debates marred by overt racism
Media
Lincoln: Slavery represents ‘eternal struggle between….right and wrong”
Alton, Illinois, Oct. 15 The final debate has a small crowd of perhaps 5,000 people, a small number considering that many trains lowered their fare by nearly half from Chicago and Springfield to come to this debate. As it was, many of the crowd arrived from St. Louis on a steamboat. The day was cloudy but otherwise the weather was fair for the riverfront debate. Both … [Read more...] about Lincoln: Slavery represents ‘eternal struggle between….right and wrong”
Lincoln: the negro has a ‘humble’ share of Declaration of Independence
Galesburg, Illinois, Oct. 7 After the pleasant summer afternoons of late September comes the harsh bite of early fall. The campus of Knox College is filled with people in their Sunday best braving the grounds after a storm yesterday. The stage is close to the Old Main and despite the raging wind, a window remains open. A banner spreads across the stage declaring favor for … [Read more...] about Lincoln: the negro has a ‘humble’ share of Declaration of Independence
In Egypt – the shame of letting Frederick Douglass ride next to a white woman
Jonesboro, Illinois, Sept. 15 While I doubt it was the late fall heat keeping people away completely, the crowd in this town deep in Southern Illinois’ “Egypt” region with its great rivers is smaller than either of the two previous debates. Reliably there are somewhere near 1,400 people present on this hot afternoon. I suspect the largest reason for this mood change is that … [Read more...] about In Egypt – the shame of letting Frederick Douglass ride next to a white woman
Press flubs first draft of history of race
The press’ rough draft of the history of race in St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois got most things wrong. In the early 1950s, a group of young civil rights activists – Irv and Maggie Dagen, Charles and Marion Oldham and Norman Seay – led a CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) sponsored sit-in of lunch counters in segregated downtown St. Louis. Richard Dudman, a young … [Read more...] about Press flubs first draft of history of race
