Abraham Lincoln had two "life masks"Â created--one in 1860 before the Civil War began and the other in 1865, when the war was ending. The masks were made to preserve what he really looked like in life, but the difference between the two masks was shocking. The 1860...
Sojourner Truth was once told that if she dared to preach, the building where she spoke would be burned. The famous abolitionist responded, "Then I will speak to the ashes." You gotta love it. This past weekend, actress Jennifer Goran and I encountered Sojourner Truth...
Edna Greene Medford became a historian at a time when the legacy of Abraham Lincoln had lost some of its luster in the African American community. So she said she never had any plans to specialize on Lincoln. But Professor Medford can credit C-SPAN for changing those...
Timothy Webster, the most famous spy during the first year of the Civil War, first encountered the Lincoln League when he was taken to a secluded hideout in the woods. He was taken there by the African American spy, John Scobell--the hero of my new novel, The Lincoln...
I was listening to the audio version of Adam Goodheart's amazing book, 1861, when the phrase "The Little Dougs" leaped out at me. As a Doug myself, I have to say I like the sound of the Little Dougs, the name that supporters of the famed Illinois Senator, Stephen A....
You can thank an 11-year-old girl for Abraham Lincoln's beard. In October of 1860, a few weeks before Lincoln was elected president of the United States, Grace Bidell wrote a letter to Lincoln, in which she said: I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote...
Ted Johnson, a wonderful actor I got to visit with at this year's Gideon Media Arts Conference, plays a small but very important role in the upcoming Stephen Spielberg movie, Lincoln. He has pointed out an excellent Entertainment Weekly article that goes through the...
Chicago politics was alive and well in May of 1860 when the Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln as its presidential candidate at the convention in the Windy City. Check out this fascinating article, which shows how trickery got Lincoln nominated on the third...
Long Before The Beatles, There Was Elmer Just prior to the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, triggering the Civil War in 1861, one of the most famous men in America was Elmer Ellsworth. Never heard of him? In 1861, everyone knew his name. This...
Springfield's Paper Tells of Henry Brown, Upcoming Book Signing When you walk into the Plaza at the entrance of the Abraham Lincoln Museum, you will see a log cabin to your left, while straight ahead is a replica of the south portico of the White House--two very...