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Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War

Dr. Robert Levine

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Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Civil War Dr. Robert Levine

Eminent Scholar Lecture

Dr. Robert Levine will explore the relationship between the African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Lincoln. Why did Douglass initially distrust Lincoln? What happened when they met during the Civil War? Why didn’t Lincoln name Douglass the Union Army’s first black officer, despite his initial promise? How did Douglass eventually come to regard what he termed “the white man’s president”? These are among the questions he will take up in the TIAS Eminent Scholar Lecture. By focusing on Douglass’s sometimes conflicting autobiographical writings about his encounters with Lincoln, Dr. Levine will offer a new perspective on a fascinating relationship between two great American leaders.

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