This year is the sesquicentennial of many important events of the Civil War, and historians and reenactors have been busy memorializing them. But one of the most significant occurs this week – Abraham Lincoln’s famous address at the dedication of the national cemetery in Gettysburg on November 19th, 1863.
This brief speech is regarded as one of the masterworks of American writing, and its text is better known than even the Declaration of Independence. It has influenced monumental speeches and political documents across the world, from Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech to the Constitution of France.
This week, at the Honors Induction Ceremony on Thursday, November 21st at 4:00 p.m., IU East will host Dean Dorrell, a famous Lincoln reenactor, as keynote speaker. Mr. Dorrell is no stranger to IU East, having spoken at past Honors Induction Ceremonies, as well, and often commemorating the 150th anniversary of Civil War events such as the battle of Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation. This year, Gettysburg will be foremost in his talk, delivered in his personable and engaging style. Everyone is invited, and admission is free.
Of course, there’s plenty to read and learn about one of our greatest president’s greatest speech. And the library has a lot to offer – from light encyclopedic information to hard scholarship in articles like Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’, Rereading the Gettysburg Address: Social Change and Collective Memory, and Phonetic Structure in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; or books like Lincoln at Two Hundred : Why We Still Read the Sixteenth President by Walter Berns and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address : Echoes of the Bible and Book of Common Prayer by A.E. Elmore.
So come to the library to learn about Lincoln, and to see the reenactment!
Any questions? Contact us at iueref@iue.edu.