Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-385) and index.
Contents:
The public body (1840-1865). Lincoln's body politic ; Last words, last breath ; The martyr and his relics ; African Americans and their emancipator ; Rolling funeral, living corpse -- The enshrined body (1865-1909). The first Lincoln memorials ; Monuments for the ages ; Black emancipation, White reunion ; Celebrating the Centenary of 1909 -- The national body (1909-2015). Solidifying the Lincoln cult : two memorials ; The hero on screen, from Griffith to Gage ; In whose symbolic shadow we stand ; Reviving the emancipator ; Lincoln sightings at the bicentenary : Obama, Disney, Spielberg.
Summary:
Explores how a president ungainly in body and downright "ugly" of aspect came to mean so much to us. The very roughness of Lincoln's appearance made him seem all the more common, one of us. as did his sense of humor about his own awkward physical nature. Nineteenth-century African Americans felt deep affection for their "liberator" as a "homely" man who did not hold himself apart. During Reconstruction, Southerners felt a nostalgia for the humility of Lincoln, whom they envisioned as a "conciliator." Later, teachers glorified Lincoln as a symbol of nationhood that would appeal to poor immigrants. Monument makers focused not only on the mans gigantic body but also on his nationalist efforts to save the Union, downplaying his emancipation of the slaves. Among both black and white liberals in the 1960s and 1970s, Lincoln was derided or fell out of fashion. More recently, Lincoln has once again been embodied (as both idealist and pragmatist, unafraid of conflict and transcending it) by outstanding historians, by self-identified Lincolnian president Barack Obama, and by actor Daniel Day-Lewisall keeping Lincoln alive in a body of memory that speaks volumes about our nation.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.