Henry Louis Gates Jr., host and executive producer of the program, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
The documentary, hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES, OPRAH’S ROOTS), addresses many of the controversies surrounding Lincoln — race, equality, religion, politics, depression — by carefully interpreting evidence from those who knew him and those who study him today.
In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles and considerable disagreement over how the 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, DC, and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day — relic hunters, re-enactors and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.
This portrait of President Abraham Lincoln was taken by Alexander Gardner in February of 1865, just a few months before Lincoln was assassinated.
Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon, the companion book written by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., contains more than 900 images, many from the renowned Meserve-Kunhardt Collection. Booklist recently wrote, “The Kunhardts’ work is sure to be one of the most popular books in the bicentennial effusion of Lincoln volumes.” It was published by Alfred A. Knopf on November 18.
LOOKING FOR LINCOLN airs on the eve of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, Wednesday, February 11th, 2009, 8:00-10:00 p.m. on PBS-HD.
For more information or to watch the program on your computer now, visit the LOOKING FOR LINCOLN site at pbs.org.
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