Donald Yacovone – författare

From acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the most comprehensive collection of Lincoln''s writings on race and slaveryGenerations of Americans have debated the meaning of Abraham Lincoln''s views on race and slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and supported a constitutional amendment to outlaw slavery, yet he also harbored grave doubts about the intellectual capacity of African Americans, publicly used the n-word until at least 1862, and favored permanent racial segregation. In this book—the first complete collection of Lincoln''s important writings on both race and slavery—readers can explore these contradictions through Lincoln''s own words. Acclaimed Harvard scholar and documentary filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., presents the full range of Lincoln''s views, gathered from his private letters, speeches, official documents, and even race jokes, arranged chronologically from the late 1830s to the 1860s.Complete with definitive texts, rich historical notes, and an original introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this book charts the progress of a war within Lincoln himself. We witness his struggles with conflicting aims and ideas—a hatred of slavery and a belief in the political equality of all men, but also anti-black prejudices and a determination to preserve the Union even at the cost of preserving slavery. We also watch the evolution of his racial views, especially in reaction to the heroic fighting of black Union troops.At turns inspiring and disturbing, Lincoln on Race and Slavery is indispensable for understanding what Lincoln''s views meant for his generation—and what they mean for our own.

Some were slaves who endured their last years of servitude before escaping from their masters; some were soldiers who fought for the freedom of their brethren and for equal rights; some were reporters who covered the defeat of their oppressors. Here, for the first time, are collected the testimonies of African Americans who witnessed the Civil War. They include the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass on the meaning of the war; Martin R. Delany on his meeting with Lincoln to gain permission to raise an army of African Americans; Susie King Taylor on her life as a laundress and nurse to a Union regiment in the deep South; Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln''s seamstress, on Abraham Lincoln''s journey to Richmond after its fall; Elijah P. Marrs on rising from slave to Union sergeant while fighting for his freedom in Kentucky; letters from black soldiers to black newspapers; and much more.