Posts Tagged Abraham Lincoln

Celebrating Black History Month

By on February 21, 2020   /   For Teachers  

Dr. Carter G._Woodson

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
~Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut

As we near the end of Black History Month, I hope everyone has been following the Brown Bookshelf, which spends every day in February posting about fabulous books by authors of color. What an awesome way to celebrate!

Another great way to celebrate the month with your children or students is to research the history of this month-long celebration. One of the first people to realize the need to honor black culture and history, Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950), along with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH), came up with the idea of Negro History Week in 1926. They chose the second week of February because it fell between the birthdays of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865).

Frederick Douglass
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-15887]

Fifty years later in 1976, the first presidential proclamation declared February as Black History Month. Every year, a theme is established to focus attention on an important historical topic central to the black experience. For 2020, ASALH chose the theme “African Americans and the Vote.” Their website provides additional information about the history of the month and the themes, and includes a downloadable pdf.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870), which gave black men the right to vote. Fifty years later, women received that right, so in 2020, we’re also recognizing the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment. Because both of these landmark celebrations occur this year, the emphasis on the right to vote is important. This month’s celebration also honors “the rise of black elected and appointed officials at the local and national levels, campaigns for equal rights legislation, as well as the role of blacks in traditional and alternative political parties,” according to the ASALH.

The Fifteenth Amendment and its results / drawn by G.F. Kahl
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-90145

Some websites to explore with middle graders include:

History.com’s “Voting Rights Act of 1965”

Library of Congress’s primary source document: “15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution”

Pathways to Freedom

Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights

Timeline of African American History

Top Ten African American Inventors

African American History Challenge

African American Inventors

Biographies of Great African Americans

Black History from A to Z

Black Inventors Online Museum

 

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

~Langston Hughes

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The Young Presidents

By on February 20, 2017   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Nonfiction  

It can stretch the imagination to picture powder-wigged George Washington and chisel-faced Abraham Lincoln as preteen boys, but don’t you wonder what kind of boys they were?

This President’s Day, let’s explore books that take us back into the boyhoods of the extraordinary men we honor today.

Abraham Lincoln, George Washington: Young Presidents by Augusta Stevenson from Aladdin.

The Education of George Washington by Austin Washington from Regnery History. (Note: This book is written by President Washington’s great-nephew and is geared toward adult readers.)

Young George Washington America’s First President  by Andrew Woods, illustrated by John Himmelman from Scholastic.

George Washington, Young Leader (Easy Biographies) by Laurence Santrey from Troll Communications.

Abe Lincoln: The Young Years (Easy Biographies) by Keith Brandt, illustrated by John Lawn from Troll Communications.

Abe Lincoln Grows Up by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty from Scholastic.

Abraham Lincoln by Ingri D’Aulaire, illustrated by Edgar Parin D’Aulaire from Yearling Books.

Do you have any good books to add to our list? How are you and your students and children celebrating President’s Day?

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What Would Abe Read?

By on February 12, 2016   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Nonfiction, Writing  

AbeReadsHis neighbors used to say that Abraham Lincoln loved to read, and would walk for miles to borrow a book. For having so little formal education, our 16th president was eloquent in both his writing and speeches, no doubt partly due to being such a fervent reader. We know Abraham Lincoln was a lover of great literature. But which books entertained him? What did he read for “fun?”

Abe’s own words show how much value he placed on reading: “A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.”

So without further ado, lets take a look into Abe’s library.  How many of these books have you read? (I was thrilled to see Jane Austen listed, since in my opinion, no library is complete without her.) This list is only a small sampling of popular works the president is believed to have enjoyed, extracted from Robert Bray’s What Abraham Lincoln Read. Lincoln also loved poetry, plays, humorous sketches, history, biographies, and philosophical works.

pride-and-prejudice-1946Aesop’s Fables

The Arabian Nights

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

Artemus Ward, His Book  by Charles F. Brown

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

The Lascover1t of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (another of my favorites)

Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.” Abe Lincoln

Can’t get enough of literary-loving Lincoln? Check out this list of the 25 best books about his life. Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Looking for more ways to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday? Check out this MUF post, Living Lincoln’s Words, by Katherine Schlick Noe.

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