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Full Description
They Knew Lincoln, first published in 1942, captures impressions of Abraham Lincoln by African Americans who personally knew and interacted with him in Springfield, Illinois, and Washington, DC. Dr. John Washington, an African American collector of Lincoln memorabilia, who grew up in the shadow of Ford's Theatre in the late 19th century, gathered stories through personal interviews with Lincoln's African American acquaintances or their children. They include Lincoln's barbers, White House servants, waiters, doorkeepers and others. A large section is devoted to Mary Lincoln's African American seamstress and confidant Elizabeth Keckley. Washington conducted research in collections across the Southeast and Midwest; he interviewed elderly African Americans in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia; and he reached out to the foremost Lincoln scholars and collectors of his era, hoping for new leads and new information.
This remarkable book was originally published by E.P. Dutton, including a strong introduction by the famed poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. The "collection of Negro stories, memories, legends about Lincoln" seemed "to fill such an obvious gap in the material about Lincoln that one wonders why no one ever did it before." Even in the twenty-first century, They Knew Lincoln remains unsurpassed as a study of the African Americans who knew Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. In recent years historians have regularly turned to Washington's book as a crucial source of information about the Lincolns' domestic world and about black Washington in the Civil War era. Yet the book has never been reprinted and remains largely unavailable. This reissue reproduces the original text in full and
the rare photos that appeared in the original book (as well as some additional ones of John E. Washington), along with a significant original essay by Kate Masur about the publication of the book, its author, and the subjects covered by this unusual work.
Contents
Editor's Introduction
Foreword by the Author
Introduction by Carl Sandburg
Acknowledgments
Prelude-- Recollections of the Ford Theater Neighborhood
Part One: Those Who Loved Lincoln
Grandmother-- Her Story of the Three C's
The Beginning of the Artist-- "Booth's Annihilation"
Cousin Annie-- Tells about the Keckley and Herndon Books
Uncle Ben, the Preacher-- Cartoon of "Riding around the Circuit"
His Stories of--King Solomon's Wisdom
The Divine Preparation
Aunt Eliza
Aunt Eliza's Death
Aunt Rosetta Wells-- Her Stories of Little Tad Lincoln and the White House
Uncle Buck
Aunt Mary Dines-- The Contraband Singer
Her Stories of Lincoln's Visits to the Contraband Camp-- Their Exercises for Him and His Part in Them
Old Aunt Phobe Bias-- Her Story of the "Big Watch-Meeting" before the Emancipation Proclamation
Uncle Sandy-- His Story of the Ford's Theater Ghosts
Interlude- Slavery in the East
Part Two: Those Who Served Lincoln
William Slade-- Confidential Messenger and Friend
Aunt Rosetta Wells-- White House Seamstress
Cornelia Mitchell-- White House Cook
Peter Brown-- Butler and Waiter at the White House
William Johnson-- Lincoln's First Bodyguard
Solomon Johnson-- Lincoln's Personal Barber
Part Three: Those Who Remembered Lincoln
Aunt Vina-- Her Home and Souvenirs of Lincoln
Her Description of Lincoln's Funeral
Aunt Elizabeth Thomas-- Heroine of Fort Stevens
John Henry Coghill-- Living Witness of Booth's Capture and Death
Her Personal Statement
Tom Gardiner-- How He Knew the Conspirators and Booth's Plans
Personal Statement by Him
William J. Ferguson-- The Only Witness of All the Phases of Lincoln's Assassination
Part Four: The Springfield Revelation
William de Fleurville-- Also Known as William Florville and "Billy the Barber"
Part Five: Elizabeth Keckley
Elizabeth Keckley--Companion and Confidante of Mrs. Lincoln
"Behind the Scenes"-- Story of Mrs. Keckley's book
Mary Todd Lincoln-- Love of the Negro for Lincoln's Wife
Appendix
