By David J. Kent
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, April 21, 2022
The Lincoln Group of DC is happy to welcome The Lincoln Forum as an official Co-Sponsor of the Lincoln Memorial Centennial celebration occurring in May 2022. The Lincoln Group has been working with the National Park Service to commemorate this important 100th anniversary, and The Lincoln Forum has been a major part of that since the beginning. The Lincoln Group thanks The Lincoln Forum for its generous contributions to this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Lincoln Forum Chairman Harold Holzer will be one of the speakers at the May 22nd event taking place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial [See the Event page to RSVP and these news posts for more details]. Holzer will discuss the history of the Memorial (and why it took 57 years for it to happen) and the art and architecture of the building. Holzer is the author of Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French, whose dramatic sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln dominates the interior of the Memorial. Prior to his current position as director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, he was senior vice president at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The author or editor of over 50 books about Lincoln, and an expert on Lincoln in images, Holzer is the perfect person to speak about the Lincoln Memorial.
Harold has also been instrumental in the contribution of another of our participants for the May 22nd Centennial Event - distinguished and award-winning actor Stephen Lang. Most of us have likely seen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch in the epic James Cameron film, Avatar, but Lang is also an accomplished stage and screen actor with a particular interest in the Civil War. Watch for a featured post on Stephen Lang coming up in the next few weeks as we dig deeper into the participants in our own epic event.
The Lincoln Forum is familiar to the Lincoln Group because many of us are members of the Forum as well. Under the leadership of current chairman Harold Holzer, vice-chairman Jonathan W. White, chairman emeritus Frank Williams, and the other members of the executive committee, the Forum has established itself as one of the preeminent Lincoln organizations in the country. Each year the Forum sponsors a three-day conference attracting the best in Lincoln scholarship and attendees. Held annually from November 16-18 in Gettysburg, PA, the Forum is the perfect lead-in to the annual November 19th commemoration day recognizing Abraham Lincoln's delivery in 1863 of the Gettysburg Address. If you're interested in Lincoln scholarship, you should be at the Forum each November. More information on The Lincoln Forum can be found on their website.
All members of The Lincoln Forum are welcome at the May 22nd event on the Lincoln Memorial steps. The Lincoln Group is also co-sponsoring two in-person events on May 21st (a walking tour and a screening at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre) and a Zoom-only reading of a screenplay being developed. More on those on the Events page and these news blogs. All Lincoln Forum members are encouraged to be part of this centennial event. And while the Lincoln Forum has provided a generous contribution to the festivities, we welcome any additional donations from individuals who want to support this important occasion. Feel free to click on the red "Donate" button at the top of the page and designate your contribution as "special events." We are also always welcoming new members to the Lincoln Group of DC (click on "Join Now"). You don't have to live in the DC area to be a member as we provide many programs virtually and have members spread around the entire country. As a member you'll also get our quarterly newsletter, The Lincolnian.
See you in May!